Tour of Turkey 2018 – Stage 3 [FULL STAGE]

October 11, 2018

Tour of Turkey 2018 – Stage 3 – Fethiye – Marmaris : 137,2 km

Presidential Cycling Tour of Turkey (Turkish: Cumhurbaşkanlığı Bisiklet Turu) is a professional road bicycle racing stage race held annually in Turkey. From 2006 it was rated as a 2.2 event, before being upgraded to 2.1 in 2008, and then to 2.HC for the 2010 edition.

It was déja-vu at the Tour of Turkey as Sam Bennett (Bora-Hansgrohe) claimed victory on stage 3, surviving the late climb and subsequent descent into Marmaris before sprinting to victory from a reduced peloton, exactly as he had done 12 months ago.

Bennett knew he’d be able to hang in on the late uncategorised climb, and when his chief rival, Alvaro Hodeg (Quick-Step Floors) was dropped, he was handed a relatively smooth path to victory.

A group of around 30 riders regrouped on the descent and two of Bennett’s teammates took control under the flamme rouge. Zdenek Stybar led out the sprint for Quick-Step’s plan B, stage 1 winner Max Richeze, but Bennett produced a commanding sprint to collect his second victory of the race.

Richeze initially had to jump onto Bennett’s wheel and although he made a decent effort to draw alongside he had to settle for second place. The final spot on the podium went to John Degenkolb (Trek-Segafredo).

“I thought it’d be harder on the climb but I was actually comfortable. They only went hard the last 500 metres and I could hang on for that,” said Bennett.

“The descent was pretty fast. A lot of guys came back when I thought maybe they wouldn’t. It was hard fight for the wheels then but my guys did a great job and looked after me all day, on the climb as well. I was on the Quick-Step train again in the last 500m. There was a slight hesitation at 220-230m to go and I decided to hit it instead of letting guys come over the top of me. At that moment I thought ‘maybe I’ve gone too long here’, but I was able to hold onto it so I’m delighted.”

Bennett’s second victory saw him extend his lead at the top of the general classification. He now leads by 10 seconds over Richeze. Degenkolb is in third and Jempy Drucker (BMC) in fourth, both at 22 seconds back.

How it unfolded

A breakaway of seven riders had formed in the opening kilometres of the 132km stage from Fethiye to Marmaris, containing Mads Wurtz Schmidt (Katusha-Alpecin) Fernando Barcelo (Euskadi-Murias), Benat Txoperena (Euskadi-Muraias), Aldemar Reyes (Manzana-Postobon), Kenneth Van Rooy (Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise), Muhammed Atalay (Turkey), and Ferit Samli (Turkey).

They built a lead of three minutes as they tackled a second-category climb in the first hour of racing and then settled in for the flatter – if still undulating – route to the finale.

The break split in two in the final 25km but they were all caught at the foot of the final climb, an uncategorised but nevertheless sapping 2.5km incline on a wide highway. As the peloton thinned, Hodeg soon found himself in trouble, before any big attacks had come from those looking to split the peloton.

Diego Ulissi (UAE) was the first to make a move, prompting a big acceleration from Nicolas Roche (BMC) and a response from Alexey Lutsenko, whose Astana teammates had set the pace at the start of the climb. There were several splits as the climb turned into a sweeping descent but a sizeable group reformed and, crucially, Bennett was there and Hodeg wasn’t.

UAE were the most prominent on the run-in through town, before Bennett put two teammates on the front going into the final kilometre. Stybar and Richeze were positioned behind and they led out the sprint proper, but Bennett went just as Stybar pulled off and never looked back.

Results :
1 Sam Bennett (Irl) Bora-Hansgrohe 3:16:27
2 Maximiliano Richeze (Arg) Quick-Step Floors
3 John Degenkolb (Ger) Trek-Segafredo
4 Patrick Bevin (NZl) BMC Racing Team
5 Ahmet Orken (Tur) Turkish National Team
6 Ivan Garcia (Spa) Bahrain-Merida
7 Alexey Lutsenko (Kaz) Astana Pro Team
8 Nathan Haas (Aus) Katusha-Alpecin
9 Przemyslaw Kasperkiewicz (Pol) Delko Marseille Provence KTM
10 Mikel Aristi Gardoki (Spa) Euskadi Basque Country-Murias
11 Nikias Arndt (Ger) Team Sunweb
12 Eliot Lietaer (Bel) WB Aqua Protect Veranclassic
13 Gonzalo Serrano Rodriguez (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA
14 Julien Trarieux (Fra) Delko Marseille Provence KTM
15 Eduard Prades Reverter (Spa) Euskadi Basque Country-Murias
16 Michal Paluta (Pol) CCC Sprandi Polkowice
17 Amaro Antunes (Por) CCC Sprandi Polkowice
18 Dimitri Peyskens (Bel) WB Aqua Protect Veranclassic
19 Rúben Guerreiro (Por) Trek-Segafredo
20 Diego Ulissi (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
21 Kevin Deltombe (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise
22 Rafael Reis (Por) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA
23 Nikolay Trusov (Rus) Gazprom-Rusvelo
24 Louis Vervaeke (Bel) Team Sunweb
25 Onur Balkan (Tur) Turkish National Team
26 Thomas Sprengers (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise
27 Reto Hollenstein (Swi) Katusha-Alpecin
28 Fabio Felline (Ita) Trek-Segafredo
29 Jhojan Orlando Garcia Sosa (Col) Manzana Postobon
30 Jon Irisarri Rincon (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA
31 Kristijan Durasek (Cro) UAE Team Emirates
32 Hernan Ricardo Aguirre Caipa (Col) Manzana Postobon
33 Delio Fernandez Cruz (Spa) Delko Marseille Provence KTM
34 Jean-Pierre Drucker (Lux) BMC Racing Team
35 Mike Teunissen (Ned) Team Sunweb
36 Ricardo Vilela (Por) Manzana Postobon
37 Steff Cras (Bel) Katusha-Alpecin
38 Sergei Shilov (Rus) Gazprom-Rusvelo
39 José Mendes (Por) Burgos BH
40 Tom Bohli (Swi) BMC Racing Team
41 Zdenek Stybar (Cze) Quick-Step Floors
42 Aime De Gendt (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise
43 Diego Rubio Hernandez (Spa) Burgos BH
44 Fabricio Ferrari Barcelo (Uru) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA
45 Piotr Brozyna (Pol) CCC Sprandi Polkowice
46 Ivan Rovny (Rus) Gazprom-Rusvelo
47 Christophe Masson (Fra) WB Aqua Protect Veranclassic
48 Mark Padun (Ukr) Bahrain-Merida
49 Nicolas Roche (Irl) BMC Racing Team
50 Mauro Finetto (Ita) Delko Marseille Provence KTM
51 Tim Declercq (Bel) Quick-Step Floors
52 Matteo Fabbro (Ita) Katusha-Alpecin
53 Sergio Pardilla Bellon (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA
54 Pawel Cieslik (Pol) CCC Sprandi Polkowice
55 Tsgabu Grmay (Eth) Trek-Segafredo
56 Fernando Orjuela Gutierrez (Col) Manzana Postobon
57 Kilian Frankiny (Swi) BMC Racing Team
58 James Knox (GBr) Quick-Step Floors
59 Brent Bookwalter (USA) BMC Racing Team
60 Danilo Wyss (Swi) BMC Racing Team
61 Josu Zabala Lopez (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA
62 Oscar Cabedo Carda (Spa) Burgos BH
63 Mathias Van Gompel (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise
64 Valerio Conti (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
65 Joaquim Silva (Por) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA
66 Pawel Bernas (Pol) CCC Sprandi Polkowice
67 Kiel Reijnen (USA) Trek-Segafredo
68 Laurens ten Dam (Ned) Team Sunweb
69 Javier Moreno Bazan (Spa) Delko Marseille Provence KTM
70 Domen Novak (Slo) Bahrain-Merida
71 Lukas Pöstlberger (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe
72 Maciej Bodnar (Pol) Bora-Hansgrohe
73 Grega Bole (Slo) Bahrain-Merida
74 Daniil Fominykh (Kaz) Astana Pro Team
75 Heinrich Haussler (Aus) Bahrain-Merida
76 Fabio Andres Duarte Arevalo (Col) Manzana Postoban
77 Moreno Moser (Ita) Astana Pro Team
78 Koen de Kort (Ned) Trek-Segafredo
79 Vegard Stake Laengen (Nor) UAE Team Emirates 0:00:11
80 Aleksejs Saramotins (Lat) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:00:31
81 Mustafa Sayar (Tur) Turkish National Team 0:01:18
82 Iljo Keisse (Bel) Quick-Step Floors
83 Edward Theuns (Bel) Team Sunweb
84 James Mitri (NZL) Burgos BH
85 Szymon Sajnok (Pol) CCC Sprandi Polkowice
86 Yevgeniy Gidich (Kaz) Astana Pro Team
87 Alvaro Hodeg (Col) Quick-Step Floors
88 Johannes Fröhlinger (Ger) Team Sunweb
89 Jetse Bol (Ned) Burgos BH
90 Dmitriy Kozontchuk (Rus) Gazprom-Rusvelo
91 Simone Consonni (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
92 Stepan Kuriyanov (Rus) Gazprom-Rusvelo
93 Juraj Sagan (Svk) Bora-Hansgrohe
94 Justin Jules (Fra) WB Aqua Protect Veranclassic
95 Yecid Arturo Sierra Sanchez (Col) Manzana Postobon
96 Nicolas Sessler (Bra) Burgos BH
97 Kamil Gradek (Pol) CCC Sprandi Polkowice
98 Sergio Rodriguez Reche (Spa) Euskadi Basque Country-Murias
99 Zhandos Bizhigitov (Kaz) Astana Pro Team 0:01:24
100 Christophe Noppe (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise 0:01:48
101 Brenton Jones (Aus) Delko Marseille Provence KTM
102 Liam Bertazzo (Ita) Wilier Triestina-Selle Italia
103 Alexander Porsev (Rus) Gazprom-Rusvelo
104 Igor Boev (Rus) Gazprom-Rusvelo 0:02:02
105 Nazim Bakirci (Tur) Turkish National Team
106 Filippo Pozzato (Ita) Wilier Triestina-Selle Italia 0:02:13
107 Alex Kirsch (Lux) WB Aqua Protect Veranclassic
108 Maxim Belkov (Rus) Katusha-Alpecin
109 Kenneth Van Rooy (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise 0:02:35
110 Jorge Cubero Galvez (Spa) Burgos BH 0:02:45
111 Enrique Sanz Unzue (Spa) Euskadi Basque Country-Murias 0:03:56
112 Julien Mortier (Bel) WB Aqua Protect Veranclassic 0:04:14
113 Nikolay Mihaylov (Bul) Delko Marseille Provence KTM
114 Luca Pacioni (Ita) Wilier Triestina-Selle Italia
115 Boy van Poppel (Ned) Trek-Segafredo
116 Ruslan Tleubayev (Kaz) Astana Pro Team
117 Preben Van Hecke (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise 0:06:39
118 Aldemar Reyes Ortega (Col) Manzana Postobon 0:06:45
119 Ramunas Navardauskas (Ltu) Bahrain-Merida 0:07:40
120 David Per (Slo) Bahrain-Merida
121 Artyom Zakharov (Kaz) Astana Pro Team
122 Marco Coledan (Ita) Wilier Triestina-Selle Italia
123 Sven Erik Bystrøm (Nor) UAE Team Emirates
124 Mads Schmidt Wurtz (Den) Katusha-Alpecin
125 Fernando Barcelo Aragon (Spa) Euskadi Basque Country-Murias
126 Przemyslaw Niemiec (Pol) UAE Team Emirates
127 Eugert Zhupa (Alb) Wilier Triestina-Selle Italia
128 Feritcan Samli (Tur) Turkish National Team
129 Ahmet Akdilek (Tur) Turkish National Team
130 Beñat Txoperena Matxikote (Spa) Euskadi Basque Country-Murias
131 Ander Barrenetxea Uriarte (Spa) Euskadi Basque Country-Murias
132 Simone Bevilacqua (Ita) Wilier Triestina-Selle Italia
133 Matteo Pelucchi (Ita) Bora-Hansgrohe
134 Massimo Rosa (Ita) Wilier Triestina-Selle Italia
135 Julien Stassen (Bel) WB Aqua Protect Veranclassic
136 Jay McCarthy (Aus) Bora-Hansgrohe
137 Muhammed Atalay (Tur) Turkish National Team 0:09:29

General Classification after Stage 3 :
1 Sam Bennett (Irl) Bora-Hansgrohe 10:09:52
2 Maximiliano Richeze (Arg) Quick-Step Floors 0:00:10
3 John Degenkolb (Ger) Trek-Segafredo 0:00:22
4 Jean-Pierre Drucker (Lux) BMC Racing Team
5 Thomas Sprengers (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise 0:00:23
6 Josu Zabala Lopez (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA 0:00:24
7 Fernando Orjuela Gutierrez (Col) Manzana Postobon 0:00:25
8 Ivan Garcia (Spa) Bahrain-Merida 0:00:26
9 Nathan Haas (Aus) Katusha-Alpecin
10 Alexey Lutsenko (Kaz) Astana Pro Team
11 Eduard Prades Reverter (Spa) Euskadi Basque Country-Murias
12 Amaro Antunes (Por) CCC Sprandi Polkowice
13 Gonzalo Serrano Rodriguez (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA
14 Julien Trarieux (Fra) Delko Marseille Provence KTM
15 Diego Ulissi (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
16 Ahmet Orken (Tur) Turkish National Team
17 Tom Bohli (Swi) BMC Racing Team
18 Kevin Deltombe (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise
19 Reto Hollenstein (Swi) Katusha-Alpecin
20 Dimitri Peyskens (Bel) WB Aqua Protect Veranclassic
21 Delio Fernandez Cruz (Spa) Delko Marseille Provence KTM
22 Rúben Guerreiro (Por) Trek-Segafredo
23 Nikias Arndt (Ger) Team Sunweb
24 Mike Teunissen (Ned) Team Sunweb
25 Rafael Reis (Por) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA
26 Patrick Bevin (NZl) BMC Racing Team
27 Fabio Felline (Ita) Trek-Segafredo
28 Steff Cras (Bel) Katusha-Alpecin
29 Przemyslaw Kasperkiewicz (Pol) Delko Marseille Provence KTM
30 Jhojan Orlando Garcia Sosa (Col) Manzana Postobon
31 Louis Vervaeke (Bel) Team Sunweb
32 Christophe Masson (Fra) WB Aqua Protect Veranclassic
33 Mauro Finetto (Ita) Delko Marseille Provence KTM
34 Kristijan Durasek (Cro) UAE Team Emirates
35 Ricardo Vilela (Por) Manzana Postobon
36 Eliot Lietaer (Bel) WB Aqua Protect Veranclassic
37 Pawel Cieslik (Pol) CCC Sprandi Polkowice
38 Sergei Shilov (Rus) Gazprom-Rusvelo
39 Ivan Rovny (Rus) Gazprom-Rusvelo
40 Matteo Fabbro (Ita) Katusha-Alpecin
41 Lukas Pöstlberger (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe
42 Nicolas Roche (Irl) BMC Racing Team
43 José Mendes (Por) Burgos BH
44 Fabricio Ferrari Barcelo (Uru) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA
45 Kiel Reijnen (USA) Trek-Segafredo
46 Hernan Ricardo Aguirre Caipa (Col) Manzana Postobon
47 Mikel Aristi Gardoki (Spa) Euskadi Basque Country-Murias
48 Koen de Kort (Ned) Trek-Segafredo
49 Heinrich Haussler (Aus) Bahrain-Merida
50 Tim Declercq (Bel) Quick-Step Floors
51 Danilo Wyss (Swi) BMC Racing Team
52 Zdenek Stybar (Cze) Quick-Step Floors
53 Aime De Gendt (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise
54 Grega Bole (Slo) Bahrain-Merida
55 Piotr Brozyna (Pol) CCC Sprandi Polkowice
56 Sergio Pardilla Bellon (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA
57 Oscar Cabedo Carda (Spa) Burgos BH
58 Mathias Van Gompel (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise
59 Mark Padun (Ukr) Bahrain-Merida
60 Maciej Bodnar (Pol) Bora-Hansgrohe
61 Daniil Fominykh (Kaz) Astana Pro Team
62 Kilian Frankiny (Swi) BMC Racing Team
63 Brent Bookwalter (USA) BMC Racing Team
64 Tsgabu Grmay (Eth) Trek-Segafredo
65 Jon Irisarri Rincon (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA 0:00:52
66 James Knox (GBr) Quick-Step Floors
67 Domen Novak (Slo) Bahrain-Merida
68 Valerio Conti (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
69 Fabio Andres Duarte Arevalo (Col) Manzana Postoban
70 Joaquim Silva (Por) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA
71 Laurens ten Dam (Ned) Team Sunweb
72 Javier Moreno Bazan (Spa) Delko Marseille Provence KTM
73 Diego Rubio Hernandez (Spa) Burgos BH 0:01:32
74 Simone Consonni (Ita) UAE Team Emirates 0:01:40
75 Edward Theuns (Bel) Team Sunweb 0:01:44
76 Szymon Sajnok (Pol) CCC Sprandi Polkowice
77 Justin Jules (Fra) WB Aqua Protect Veranclassic
78 Yevgeniy Gidich (Kaz) Astana Pro Team
79 Jetse Bol (Ned) Burgos BH
80 Johannes Fröhlinger (Ger) Team Sunweb
81 James Mitri (NZL) Burgos BH
82 Michal Paluta (Pol) CCC Sprandi Polkowice 0:01:46
83 Alvaro Hodeg (Col) Quick-Step Floors 0:01:48
84 Onur Balkan (Tur) Turkish National Team 0:01:56
85 Moreno Moser (Ita) Astana Pro Team
86 Mustafa Sayar (Tur) Turkish National Team 0:02:10
87 Iljo Keisse (Bel) Quick-Step Floors
88 Christophe Noppe (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise 0:02:14
89 Alexander Porsev (Rus) Gazprom-Rusvelo
90 Brenton Jones (Aus) Delko Marseille Provence KTM
91 Yecid Arturo Sierra Sanchez (Col) Manzana Postobon 0:02:22
92 Igor Boev (Rus) Gazprom-Rusvelo 0:02:28
93 Stepan Kuriyanov (Rus) Gazprom-Rusvelo 0:02:33
94 Dmitriy Kozontchuk (Rus) Gazprom-Rusvelo
95 Nicolas Sessler (Bra) Burgos BH
96 Vegard Stake Laengen (Nor) UAE Team Emirates 0:02:39
97 Nazim Bakirci (Tur) Turkish National Team 0:02:54
98 Kenneth Van Rooy (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise 0:02:55
99 Kamil Gradek (Pol) CCC Sprandi Polkowice
100 Pawel Bernas (Pol) CCC Sprandi Polkowice 0:03:08
101 Jorge Cubero Galvez (Spa) Burgos BH 0:03:11
102 Zhandos Bizhigitov (Kaz) Astana Pro Team 0:03:20
103 Liam Bertazzo (Ita) Wilier Triestina-Selle Italia 0:03:44
104 Aleksejs Saramotins (Lat) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:03:47
105 Filippo Pozzato (Ita) Wilier Triestina-Selle Italia 0:03:59
106 Alex Kirsch (Lux) WB Aqua Protect Veranclassic 0:04:09
107 Nikolay Trusov (Rus) Gazprom-Rusvelo 0:04:10
108 Juraj Sagan (Svk) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:04:15
109 Enrique Sanz Unzue (Spa) Euskadi Basque Country-Murias 0:04:22
110 Luca Pacioni (Ita) Wilier Triestina-Selle Italia 0:04:40
111 Ruslan Tleubayev (Kaz) Astana Pro Team
112 Julien Mortier (Bel) WB Aqua Protect Veranclassic
113 Boy van Poppel (Ned) Trek-Segafredo
114 Sergio Rodriguez Reche (Spa) Euskadi Basque Country-Murias
115 Maxim Belkov (Rus) Katusha-Alpecin 0:04:44
116 Nikolay Mihaylov (Bul) Delko Marseille Provence KTM 0:06:58
117 Aldemar Reyes Ortega (Col) Manzana Postobon 0:07:09
118 Beñat Txoperena Matxikote (Spa) Euskadi Basque Country-Murias 0:08:04
119 Ramunas Navardauskas (Ltu) Bahrain-Merida 0:08:06
120 Artyom Zakharov (Kaz) Astana Pro Team
121 Preben Van Hecke (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise 0:08:11
122 Ahmet Akdilek (Tur) Turkish National Team 0:08:32
123 Przemyslaw Niemiec (Pol) UAE Team Emirates
124 David Per (Slo) Bahrain-Merida 0:08:48
125 Massimo Rosa (Ita) Wilier Triestina-Selle Italia 0:09:08
126 Fernando Barcelo Aragon (Spa) Euskadi Basque Country-Murias 0:09:12
127 Mads Schmidt Wurtz (Den) Katusha-Alpecin 0:09:22
128 Eugert Zhupa (Alb) Wilier Triestina-Selle Italia 0:09:36
129 Simone Bevilacqua (Ita) Wilier Triestina-Selle Italia
130 Julien Stassen (Bel) WB Aqua Protect Veranclassic
131 Feritcan Samli (Tur) Turkish National Team 0:09:40
132 Muhammed Atalay (Tur) Turkish National Team 0:10:44
133 Marco Coledan (Ita) Wilier Triestina-Selle Italia 0:10:46
134 Ander Barrenetxea Uriarte (Spa) Euskadi Basque Country-Murias 0:10:48
135 Sven Erik Bystrøm (Nor) UAE Team Emirates 0:10:59
136 Matteo Pelucchi (Ita) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:11:11
137 Jay McCarthy (Aus) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:11:12