Tour of Turkey 2016 – Stage 6 [FULL STAGE]

April 29, 2016

Tour of Turkey 2016 – Kumluca – Elmali – 116,9km

The 2016 Presidential Tour of Turkey is a road cycling stage race that will take place in Turkey between 24 April and 1 May 2016. It is the 52nd edition of the Presidential Tour of Turkey and is rated as a 2.HC event as part of the 2016 UCI Europe Tour. The race includes eight stages; seven of these are moderately hilly, while Stage 6 ends with a summit finish at Elmalı. The defending champion is Lampre–Merida’s Kristijan Đurasek.

Race leader Pello Bilbao fell sick with a stomach bug on the eve of the queen stage but his Caja Rural-RGA retained the overall race leadership at the Presidential Tour of Turkey, with Portuguese all rounder José Gonçalves moving into the lead after their neo-pro Jaime Roson outsprinted stage one winner Przemyslaw Niemiec of Lampre-Merida to win the stage atop the grueling climb of Göğübeli -seen as the key mountain stage of the Presidential Tour of Turkey.

“This is absolutely fantastic,” Roson reacted after his first ever win as a professional rider.

“I was close to winning the queen stage at the Vuelta Castilla y Leon but Alejandro Valverde brought me back with 400 metres to go. I didn’t feel good all day today after I worked a lot for the team during the previous days but I felt much better towards the end. Even though Niemiec caught me, I still had enough energy to beat him. It’s also thanks to our strategy. We had planned to have someone in the early break to force CCC to chase so we could remain quietly in the peloton before the final climb.”

The stage was a controlled affair until the climb to the finish. A breakaway was formed following Eduard Michael Grosu’s attack at kilometre 14. The Romanian from Nippo-Vini Fantini was rejoined by Ilia Koshevoy (Lampre-Merida), Stig Broeckx (Lotto-Soudal), Antonio Piedra (Funvic-Soul), Antonio Viola (Nippo-Vini Fantini), Nicolas Baldo (Roth), Galym Akhmetov (Astana City), Peter Schulting (Parkhotel Valkenburg), Nazim Bakirci (Torku), Enrico Salvador (Unieuro) and Gonçalves. CCC Polsat, who had ambitions for the stage victory, controlled the gap of the peloton just above two minutes.

Schulting, Broeckx and Bakirci rode away in the first category climb after 54.7km and then Baldo and Piedra went across. Their adventure came to an end with 30km to go, soon followed by an attack by Dominik Hrinkow (Hrinkow Advarics) and Simone Petilli (Lampre-Merida). It became a leading quartet with Liam Bertazzo (Southeast) and Daniele Colli (Nippo-Vini Fantini) adding their strength with 25km to go. They had one minute lead over the main peloton entering the final 20km.

Final attacks

Petilli forged on with 10km to go bur he was reined in by a group of 23 riders, six kilometres before the summit finish as the gradient steepened. Koshevoy accelerated with two kilometres to go, taking Roson and Jan Hirt (CCC) with him. Roson continued solo but Niemiec gradually came across to him under the flamme rouge. The young Spaniard, who secured his first pro contract by finishing twelfth at the USA Pro Challenge during his period as a trainee with Caja Rural-RGA in August last year, still had the kick needed for the final uphill stretch. He first matched Niemiec and then cracked him, gonig ahead to win.

“I thought he would be more tired than he effectively was”, Niemiec commented. “What a pity. I accelerated at the right moment. I fought till the end but I couldn’t get the stage win. However, I’m happy to lead the mountains classification. It shows that I’m climbing well and the preparation for the Giro has gone well. I’m satisfied with my results at the TUR so far: a stage win, a second place, a fourth one. After an early part of the season that was so so, I’m in a great shape now.”

His compatriot Pawel Cieslik, 30, was a surprise third placed. He rode in France as a junior and four years with Elite club teams CR4C Roanne and VC Vaulx-en-Velin until he finally turned professional with Mroz in 2009. This is his first stint in the Professional Continental ranks with newly upgraded Verva-Activejet.

“I was here to work for our leader Karel Hnik but I happened to be at the front”, Cieslik said. “I liked this mountain very much. It was a good finish for me. I’ve thought I was going to win but it was difficult against Lampre-Merida and Caja Rural, they were very strong. However, this is a good result for my team. It’s our first season as a Professional Continental team. It’s a pity I was sick during the Tour of Catalunya, which was our first wild card in the WorldTour, but the Tour of Turkey is the second biggest event we get a chance to take part in.”

With Bilbao sick and distances early on the 10km climb, it was up to Gonçalves to handle the responsibility of the leadership for Caja Rural-RGA who had the top three positions on GC before the race. He handled it well.

“I wanted to be in good shape for Tirreno-Adriatico but it didn’t work out”, the Portuguese rider explained. “I lost motivation for a while but with our good showing here in Turkey, I became super motivated again. After the work Ricardo Vilela did for me in the final climb today, I couldn’t let him down. I now lead the race with two days to but a race is only won on the last day. There are still a few climbs and it only takes a small sickness like it happen to Pello to lose it all.”

Gonçalves leads teammate David Arroyo by 18 seconds, with Nikita Stalnov (Astana City) third overall at 46 seconds.

Saturday’s 126km penultimate and seventh stage is from Fethiye and Marmaris and includes a late climb that should inspire attack and make the sprinters suffer for a chance of victory.

Results :
1 Jaime Roson (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA 3:22:16
2 Przemyslaw Niemiec (Pol) Lampre – Merida 0:00:02
3 Pawel Cieslik (Pol) Verva ActiveJet Pro Cycling Team 0:00:12
4 Ilia Koshevoy (Blr) Lampre – Merida 0:00:16
5 Jan Hirt (Cze) CCC Sprandi Polkowice 0:00:19
6 José Gonçalves (Por) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA 0:00:30
7 Mauro Finetto (Ita) Unieuro Wilier 0:00:38
8 Davide Rebellin (Ita) CCC Sprandi Polkowice 0:00:40
9 David Arroyo (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA
10 Sylwester Szmyd (Pol) CCC Sprandi Polkowice 0:00:51
11 Nikita Stalnov (Kaz) Astana City 0:00:59
12 Ricardo Vilela (Por) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA 0:01:01
13 Jasper Ockeloen (Ned) Parkhotel Valkenburg Continental Team 0:01:24
14 Quentin Pacher (Fra) Delko Marseille Provence KTM
15 Mateusz Taciak (Pol) CCC Sprandi Polkowice 0:01:32
16 Luis Mas Bonet (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA 0:01:34
17 Karel Hnik (Cze) Verva ActiveJet Pro Cycling Team 0:01:43
18 Stig Broeckx (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:01:56
19 Giovanni Carboni (Ita) Unieuro Wilier
20 Fatih Keles (Tur) Torku Sekerspor 0:02:10
21 Adam Hansen (Aus) Lotto Soudal 0:02:34
22 Sven Van Luijk (Ned) Parkhotel Valkenburg Continental Team 0:02:43
23 Lukas Jaun (Swi) Team Roth 0:03:30
24 Greg Henderson (NZl) Lotto Soudal 0:03:35
25 Gert Dockx (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:03:43
26 Nazim Bakirci (Tur) Torku Sekerspor 0:04:04
27 Viesturs Luksevics (Lat) Alpha Baltic – Maratoni.Lv 0:04:11
28 Jochem Hoekstra (Ned) Parkhotel Valkenburg Continental Team 0:04:33
29 Leszek Plucinski (Pol) CCC Sprandi Polkowice 0:04:37
30 David Belda Garcia (Spa) Team Roth 0:05:48
31 Feritcan Samli (Tur) Torku Sekerspor 0:06:25
32 Yuriy Chsherbinin (Kaz) Astana City
33 Peter Schulting (Ned) Parkhotel Valkenburg Continental Team
34 Christophe Laborie (Fra) Delko Marseille Provence KTM
35 Galym Akhmetov (Kaz) Astana City
36 Simone Petilli (Ita) Lampre – Merida 0:07:53
37 Mirko Tedeschi (Ita) Southeast – Venezuela 0:09:19
38 Kristijan Durasek (Cro) Lampre – Merida 0:09:20
39 Domingos Gonçalves (Por) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA
40 Dominik Hrinkow (Aut) Hrinkow Advarics Cycleangteam
41 Daniel Diaz (Arg) Delko Marseille Provence KTM
42 Ahmet Akdilek (Tur) Torku Sekerspor 0:09:51
43 Fredrik Strand Galta (Nor) Delko Marseille Provence KTM 0:09:56
44 Antonio Piedra Perez (Spa) Funvic Soul Cycles – Carrefour 0:10:26
45 Andris Smirnovs (Lat) Alpha Baltic – Maratoni.Lv 0:11:05
46 Nikolay Mihaylov (Bul) CCC Sprandi Polkowice 0:11:19
47 Eduard Michael Grosu (Rom) Nippo – Vini Fantini 0:12:36
48 Daniele Colli (Ita) Nippo – Vini Fantini 0:12:49
49 Branislau Samoilau (Blr) CCC Sprandi Polkowice
50 Pello Bilbao (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA
51 Simone Ravanelli (Ita) Unieuro Wilier 0:14:20
52 Manuel Belletti (Ita) Southeast – Venezuela 0:15:03
53 Nicolas Baldo (Fra) Team Roth 0:16:03
54 Enrico Salvador (Ita) Unieuro Wilier 0:17:50
55 Eugert Zhupa (Alb) Southeast – Venezuela 0:18:09
56 Alberto Cecchin (Ita) Team Roth
57 Colin Stüssi (Swi) Team Roth 0:20:27
58 Manabu Ishibashi (Jpn) Nippo – Vini Fantini 0:20:46
59 Andreas Graf (Aut) Hrinkow Advarics Cycleangteam 0:21:07
60 Marco Molteni (Ita) Unieuro Wilier 0:21:15
61 Massimo Graziato (Ita) Parkhotel Valkenburg Continental Team 0:22:04
62 Sacha Modolo (Ita) Lampre – Merida
63 Grzegorz Stepniak (Pol) CCC Sprandi Polkowice
64 Marco Zanotti (Ita) Parkhotel Valkenburg Continental Team 0:22:10
65 Roberto Ferrari (Ita) Lampre – Merida
66 Bram Nolten (Ned) Parkhotel Valkenburg Continental Team 0:22:11
67 Nicola Toffali (Ita) Team Roth
68 Lucas Gaday Orozco (Arg) Team Roth
69 Liam Bertazzo (Ita) Southeast – Venezuela 0:22:13
70 Maxim Satlikov (Kaz) Astana City 0:22:33
71 Alessandro Malaguti (Ita) Unieuro Wilier 0:25:08
72 Giovanni Pedretti (Ita) Unieuro Wilier
73 Matteo Malucelli (Ita) Unieuro Wilier
74 Rémy Di Gregorio (Fra) Delko Marseille Provence KTM
75 Matteo Draperi (Ita) Southeast – Venezuela
76 Alexander Meier (Ger) Hrinkow Advarics Cycleangteam
77 Muhammet Atalay (Tur) Torku Sekerspor
78 Michal Podlaski (Pol) Verva ActiveJet Pro Cycling Team
79 Adrian Banaszek (Pol) Verva ActiveJet Pro Cycling Team
80 Kazushige Kuboki (Jpn) Nippo – Vini Fantini
81 Remco Te Brake (Ned) Parkhotel Valkenburg Continental Team
82 Riccardo Stacchiotti (Ita) Nippo – Vini Fantini
83 Kristofers Racenajs (Lat) Alpha Baltic – Maratoni.Lv
84 Antonio Viola (Ita) Nippo – Vini Fantini
85 Anton Kuzmin (Kaz) Astana City
86 Frederik Frison (Bel) Lotto Soudal
87 Pablo Urtasun (Spa) Funvic Soul Cycles – Carrefour
88 Florian Gaugl (Aut) Hrinkow Advarics Cycleangteam
89 Ahmet Orken (Tur) Torku Sekerspor
90 Raphael Hammerschmid (Aut) Hrinkow Advarics Cycleangteam
91 Kris Boeckmans (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:25:14
92 Xu Gang (Tpe) Lampre – Merida 0:25:17
93 Matvey Nikitin (Kaz) Astana City 0:28:07
94 Grischa Janorschke (Ger) Team Roth 0:29:32
95 André De Souza Almeida (Bra) Funvic Soul Cycles – Carrefour 0:29:34
96 Jakub Mareczko (Ita) Southeast – Venezuela 0:30:06
97 Francisco Chamorro Paiva (Arg) Funvic Soul Cycles – Carrefour 0:30:09
98 Kaspars Sergis (Lat) Alpha Baltic – Maratoni.Lv 0:30:18
99 Roberto Pinheiro (Bra) Funvic Soul Cycles – Carrefour 0:30:39
100 Vadim Galeyev (Kaz) Astana City 0:30:48
101 Nurbolat Kulimbetov (Kaz) Astana City
DNS André Greipel (Ger) Lotto Soudal
DNS Jelle Wallays (Bel) Lotto Soudal
DNS Enrique Salz Unzue (Spa) Southeast – Venezuela

General classification after stage 6 :

1 José Gonçalves (Por) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA 23:29:57
2 David Arroyo (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA 0:00:18
3 Nikita Stalnov (Kaz) Astana City 0:00:46
4 Luis Mas Bonet (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA 0:02:13
5 Adam Hansen (Aus) Lotto Soudal 0:04:21
6 Greg Henderson (NZl) Lotto Soudal 0:06:46
7 Stig Broeckx (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:09:22
8 Pello Bilbao (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA 0:12:14
9 Gert Dockx (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:12:46
10 Jaime Roson (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA 0:12:58
11 Mauro Finetto (Ita) Unieuro Wilier 0:13:08
12 Ricardo Vilela (Por) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA 0:13:34
13 Quentin Pacher (Fra) Delko Marseille Provence KTM 0:13:57
14 Giovanni Carboni (Ita) Unieuro Wilier 0:15:22
15 Jasper Ockeloen (Ned) Parkhotel Valkenburg Continental Team 0:16:06
16 Karel Hnik (Cze) Verva ActiveJet Pro Cycling Team 0:16:25
17 Jochem Hoekstra (Ned) Parkhotel Valkenburg Continental Team 0:19:28
18 Pawel Cieslik (Pol) Verva ActiveJet Pro Cycling Team 0:20:27
19 Mateusz Taciak (Pol) CCC Sprandi Polkowice 0:22:07
20 Przemyslaw Niemiec (Pol) Lampre – Merida 0:23:13
21 Sven Van Luijk (Ned) Parkhotel Valkenburg Continental Team 0:23:50
22 Sylwester Szmyd (Pol) CCC Sprandi Polkowice 0:25:17
23 Ilia Koshevoy (Blr) Lampre – Merida 0:25:55
24 Leszek Plucinski (Pol) CCC Sprandi Polkowice 0:26:11
25 Davide Rebellin (Ita) CCC Sprandi Polkowice 0:26:19
26 Galym Akhmetov (Kaz) Astana City 0:27:02
27 Kristijan Durasek (Cro) Lampre – Merida 0:30:59
28 Jan Hirt (Cze) CCC Sprandi Polkowice 0:31:46
29 Antonio Piedra Perez (Spa) Funvic Soul Cycles – Carrefour 0:31:52
30 Daniele Colli (Ita) Nippo – Vini Fantini 0:33:01
31 Simone Petilli (Ita) Lampre – Merida 0:33:32
32 Nazim Bakirci (Tur) Torku Sekerspor 0:34:09
33 Lukas Jaun (Swi) Team Roth 0:34:46
34 Alberto Cecchin (Ita) Team Roth 0:35:30
35 David Belda Garcia (Spa) Team Roth 0:35:53
36 Fatih Keles (Tur) Torku Sekerspor 0:37:04
37 Peter Schulting (Ned) Parkhotel Valkenburg Continental Team 0:37:52
38 Domingos Gonçalves (Por) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA 0:39:25
39 Ahmet Orken (Tur) Torku Sekerspor 0:41:26
40 Viesturs Luksevics (Lat) Alpha Baltic – Maratoni.Lv 0:43:22
41 Roberto Ferrari (Ita) Lampre – Merida 0:45:20
42 Michal Podlaski (Pol) Verva ActiveJet Pro Cycling Team 0:46:02
43 Frederik Frison (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:46:25
44 Massimo Graziato (Ita) Parkhotel Valkenburg Continental Team 0:46:42
45 Kris Boeckmans (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:46:50
46 Nikolay Mihaylov (Bul) CCC Sprandi Polkowice 0:46:56
47 Alessandro Malaguti (Ita) Unieuro Wilier 0:47:19
48 Mirko Tedeschi (Ita) Southeast – Venezuela 0:47:25
49 Rémy Di Gregorio (Fra) Delko Marseille Provence KTM 0:48:46
50 Yuriy Chsherbinin (Kaz) Astana City 0:48:48
51 Christophe Laborie (Fra) Delko Marseille Provence KTM
52 Matteo Malucelli (Ita) Unieuro Wilier 0:50:36
53 Anton Kuzmin (Kaz) Astana City 0:51:01
54 Eduard Michael Grosu (Rom) Nippo – Vini Fantini 0:51:21
55 Riccardo Stacchiotti (Ita) Nippo – Vini Fantini 0:51:50
56 Marco Zanotti (Ita) Parkhotel Valkenburg Continental Team 0:52:15
57 Feritcan Samli (Tur) Torku Sekerspor 0:52:23
58 Dominik Hrinkow (Aut) Hrinkow Advarics Cycleangteam 0:52:28
59 Andris Smirnovs (Lat) Alpha Baltic – Maratoni.Lv 0:53:48
60 Ahmet Akdilek (Tur) Torku Sekerspor 0:53:53
61 Daniel Diaz (Arg) Delko Marseille Provence KTM 0:54:00
62 Sacha Modolo (Ita) Lampre – Merida 0:54:34
63 Fredrik Strand Galta (Nor) Delko Marseille Provence KTM 0:56:17
64 Eugert Zhupa (Alb) Southeast – Venezuela 0:56:24
65 Liam Bertazzo (Ita) Southeast – Venezuela 0:56:48
66 Pablo Urtasun (Spa) Funvic Soul Cycles – Carrefour 0:57:13
67 Manuel Belletti (Ita) Southeast – Venezuela 0:57:26
68 Branislau Samoilau (Blr) CCC Sprandi Polkowice 0:57:57
69 Alexander Meier (Ger) Hrinkow Advarics Cycleangteam 0:57:58
70 Simone Ravanelli (Ita) Unieuro Wilier 0:58:07
71 Nicola Toffali (Ita) Team Roth 0:58:48
72 Remco Te Brake (Ned) Parkhotel Valkenburg Continental Team 0:59:20
73 Muhammet Atalay (Tur) Torku Sekerspor 0:59:31
74 Nicolas Baldo (Fra) Team Roth 0:59:50
75 Adrian Banaszek (Pol) Verva ActiveJet Pro Cycling Team 1:02:04
76 Jakub Mareczko (Ita) Southeast – Venezuela 1:03:12
77 Vadim Galeyev (Kaz) Astana City 1:03:18
78 Enrico Salvador (Ita) Unieuro Wilier 1:04:11
79 Grzegorz Stepniak (Pol) CCC Sprandi Polkowice 1:04:27
80 Colin Stüssi (Swi) Team Roth 1:05:01
81 Manabu Ishibashi (Jpn) Nippo – Vini Fantini 1:05:13
82 Bram Nolten (Ned) Parkhotel Valkenburg Continental Team 1:07:49
83 Maxim Satlikov (Kaz) Astana City 1:07:58
84 Raphael Hammerschmid (Aut) Hrinkow Advarics Cycleangteam 1:08:28
85 Florian Gaugl (Aut) Hrinkow Advarics Cycleangteam 1:08:40
86 Antonio Viola (Ita) Nippo – Vini Fantini 1:09:18
87 Xu Gang (Tpe) Lampre – Merida 1:11:09
88 Matteo Draperi (Ita) Southeast – Venezuela 1:12:21
89 André De Souza Almeida (Bra) Funvic Soul Cycles – Carrefour 1:12:56
90 Giovanni Pedretti (Ita) Unieuro Wilier 1:16:22
91 Grischa Janorschke (Ger) Team Roth 1:19:48
92 Nurbolat Kulimbetov (Kaz) Astana City 1:22:23
93 Marco Molteni (Ita) Unieuro Wilier 1:22:43
94 Lucas Gaday Orozco (Arg) Team Roth 1:22:52
95 Matvey Nikitin (Kaz) Astana City 1:23:08
96 Kristofers Racenajs (Lat) Alpha Baltic – Maratoni.Lv 1:25:40
97 Kazushige Kuboki (Jpn) Nippo – Vini Fantini 1:25:53
98 Andreas Graf (Aut) Hrinkow Advarics Cycleangteam 1:27:01
99 Kaspars Sergis (Lat) Alpha Baltic – Maratoni.Lv 1:30:55
100 Francisco Chamorro Paiva (Arg) Funvic Soul Cycles – Carrefour 1:31:33
101 Roberto Pinheiro (Bra) Funvic Soul Cycles – Carrefour 1:57:42