Tour of Turkey 2019 – Stage 4 [LAST 20 KM]

April 19, 2019

Tour of Turkey 2019 – Stage 4 – Balıkesir – Bursa : 194,3 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.

Caleb Ewan (Lotto Soudal) made use of his small frame to take victory on the uphill finish on stage 4 of the Tour of Turkey. The Australian dug deep to catch and pass Juan Jose Lobato (Nippo Vini Fantini), who had launched his sprint early.

Lobato would hold on to take second place while Sam Bennett (Bora-Hansgrohe) claimed third to hold onto his race lead for yet another day.

The uphill drag towards the finish line in Bursa made for a very aggressive finale that put most of the sprinters to the sword. A late attack from Mauro Finetto (Delko Marseille Provence) was brought back inside the final kilometre and the peloton was strung out under the force of the chase.

Lobato was the first of the sprint contenders to blink, launching his move from around 10 riders back soon after the final turn. Bennett looked in prime position to take him back, but the Irishman did not have the turn of pace to bridge the small gap to the line. In the end, it was left to Ewan to make the chase.

Ewan had been sat behind Bennett and had to go around him before making it up to the wheel of Lobato. He then jumped out of Lobato’s wheel with just 50 metres remaining, taking the victory by less than a bike’s length. The effort showed as Ewan lay flat on his back on the tarmac, hand to his face as he tried to catch his breath.

“My team’s done a really great job all week and we’ve committed every day to go for the win and I haven’t rewarded them with the win, but I’m happy today to get that one. It was a super tough finish. I can’t remember the last time that I went that deep to win a race,” said Ewan.

“To be honest, I was on the wheel [of Bennett] and I was already 100 per cent. I was waiting for him to go and he popped a little bit, and I knew that I had to go straight away to catch the guy in front and get the win. Luckily I had enough to do that last sprint.”

How it happened

The fourth stage of the Tour of Turkey took the riders north as it travelled from Belikesir to Bursa. The 194.3km stage only contained one classified climb but the uphill drag to the finish line would ensure that it was not a straightforward sprint day. Though the sun was out, it was not that hot and there were plenty of extra layers on show. Despite losing out to Fabio Jakobsen on stage 3, Bennett retained the race lead and started the day in the blue jersey of the race leader.

It didn’t take long before a breakaway was formed with five riders escaping the clutches of the peloton. The five were: Mauricio Moreira (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA), Lucas De Rossi (Delko Marseille Provence), Ander Barrenetxea (Euskadi), Thimo Willems (Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise) and Feritcan Samli (Turkey). The peloton were happy with that, and with five kilometres gone the gap already stood at 2:30 and that would expand to over eight minutes some 10 kilometres later.

Willems wore the red jersey of the leader of the mountains competition, and he would extend his small lead by beating Moreira to the top of the one and only classified ascent. His job done, Willems would sit up and wait to be caught by the peloton, seeing no point in wasting any more energy on a breakaway that never looked likely to succeed. Following the intermediate sprint, Samil would do the same and leave just three riders at the head of affairs.

For much of the day, there seemed to be little impetus in either the peloton or the breakaway and that showed in a relatively gentle average speed of below 35kph in the opening three hours of racing. Despite this, the gap between the two groups gradually reduced as the kilometres ticked by with Bora-Hansgrohe taking up the duties at the front of the bunch with Lukas Postlberger.

With 42 kilometres remaining, Moreira was the next of the escapees to give up his place in the breakaway, perhaps looking for someone else to talk to after such a long day in the saddle. De Rossi and Barrenetxea plugged on alone, attacking each other briefly before deciding that it was a futile exercise. They would eventually be brought back with 12 kilometres remaining, allowing the sprint teams to begin preparing their leadout trains at the front of the bunch.

Buoyed by their third place on stage 3, Dimension Data looked to take control of the pace setting, alongside Lotto Soudal and Euskadi Murias. Deceuninck-QuickStep bided their time, only moving forward in the final five kilometres.

The climb to the finish began soon after and it would get tougher as it got closer to the finish with a maximum gradient of six per cent. Finetto decided to try and take his chances, striking out inside the final two kilometres. A rider from Manzana Postobon tried to follow but crashed on a corner, with Remco Evenepoel (Deceuninck-QuickStep) getting caught up in the aftermath. The Belgian appeared to hurt his wrist in the fall, though he would cross the line on his bike a short while after the winner.

As plucky as it was, Finetto’s attack would be brought back with less than a kilometre remaining. Lobato would be the next to strike out, jumping from a long way back in the group in order to try and catch the others off guard. Bennett looked to hold back until the last moment, but he couldn’t get going with the line in sight. Ewan saw his opportunity, moving around Bennett before passing Lobato in the final 50 metres of the stage to take his second WorldTour win of the season.

Results :
1 Caleb Ewan (Aus) Lotto Soudal 5:21:38
2 Juan Jose Lobato Del Valle (Spa) Nippo-Vini Fantini-Faizane
3 Sam Bennett (Irl) Bora-Hansgrohe
4 Simone Consonni (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
5 Fabio Jakobsen (Ned) Deceuninck-QuickStep
6 Juan Sebastian Molano (Col) UAE Team Emirates
7 Jon Aberasturi Izaga (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA
8 Enrique Sanz Unzue (Spa) Euskadi Basque Country-Murias
9 Giovanni Lonardi (Ita) Nippo-Vini Fantini-Faizane
10 Gonzalo Serrano Rodriguez (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA
11 Jaume Sureda Morey (Spa) Burgos-BH
12 Valerio Conti (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
13 Felix Großschartner (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe
14 Christophe Noppe (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise
15 Jan Polanc (Slo) UAE Team Emirates
16 Edgar Pinto (Por) W52-FC Porto
17 Sebastian Schönberger (Aut) Neri Sottoli–Selle Italia–KTM
18 Etienne van Empel (Ned) Neri Sottoli–Selle Italia–KTM
19 Rafael Reis (Por) W52-FC Porto
20 Jhonatan Restrepo Valencia (Col) Manzana Postobon
21 Kyle Murphy (USA) Rally UHC Cycling
22 Eduard-Michael Grosu (Rom) Delko Marseille Provence KTM
23 Ricardo Mestre (Por) W52-FC Porto
24 Delio Fernandez Cruz (Spa) Delko Marseille Provence KTM
25 Ryan Gibbons (RSA) Dimension Data
26 Cyril Barthe (Fra) Euskadi Basque Country-Murias
27 Ben O’Connor (Aus) Dimension Data
28 Zhandos Bizhigitov (Kaz) Astana Pro Team
29 Rob Britton (Can) Rally UHC Cycling
30 Aaron Van Poucke (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise
31 Eros Capecchi (Ita) Deceuninck-QuickStep
32 Onur Balkan (Tur) Turkey
33 Pier Andre Cote (Can) Rally UHC Cycling
34 Umberto Marengo (Ita) Neri Sottoli–Selle Italia–KTM
35 Hideto Nakane (Jpn) Nippo-Vini Fantini-Faizane
36 Samuel Caldeira (Por) W52-FC Porto
37 Merhawi Kudus (Eri) Astana Pro Team
38 Diego Antonio Ochoa Camargo (Col) Manzana Postobon
39 Javier Moreno Bazan (Spa) Delko Marseille Provence KTM
40 Masakazu Ito (Jpn) Nippo-Vini Fantini-Faizane
41 Yecid Arturo Sierra Sanchez (Col) Manzana Postobon
42 Cristian Camilo Muñoz Lancheros (Col) UAE Team Emirates
43 Christoph Pfingsten (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe
44 Lindsay De Vylder (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise
45 Daniil Fominykh (Kaz) Astana Pro Team
46 Rémy Rochas (Fra) Delko Marseille Provence KTM
47 Mauro Finetto (Ita) Delko Marseille Provence KTM
48 Lorenzo Fortunato (Ita) Neri Sottoli–Selle Italia–KTM
49 Halil Dogan (Tur) Turkey
50 Mustafa Sayar (Tur) Turkey
51 Raul Alarcon Garcia (Spa) W52-FC Porto
52 Luca Pacioni (Ita) Neri Sottoli–Selle Italia–KTM
53 Imerio Cima (Ita) Nippo-Vini Fantini-Faizane
54 Yuriy Natarov (Kaz) Astana Pro Team 0:00:17
55 Ahmet Orken (Tur) Turkey 0:00:24
56 Hayato Yoshida (Jpn) Nippo-Vini Fantini-Faizane
57 Oscar Cabedo Carda (Spa) Burgos-BH 0:00:30
58 Maximiliano Richeze (Arg) Deceuninck-QuickStep 0:00:40
59 Mark Renshaw (Aus) Dimension Data 0:00:43
60 Mark Cavendish (GBr) Dimension Data 0:00:48
61 Alvaro Hodeg (Col) Deceuninck-QuickStep
62 Davide Martinelli (Ita) Deceuninck-QuickStep
63 Stefan De Bod (RSA) Dimension Data
64 Thimo Willems (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise 0:00:51
65 Remco Evenepoel (Bel) Deceuninck-QuickStep
66 Kenny De Ketele (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise 0:01:07
67 Ramunas Navardauskas (Ltu) Delko Marseille Provence KTM
68 Yevgeniy Gidich (Kaz) Astana Pro Team
69 John Murphy (USA) Rally UHC Cycling 0:01:27
70 Sebastian Mora Vedri (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA 0:01:33
71 Luis Carlos Chia Bermudez (Col) Manzana Postobon
72 Nuno Matos (Por) Burgos-BH 0:01:39
73 José Ferreira (Por) W52-FC Porto
74 Artyom Zakharov (Kaz) Astana Pro Team 0:01:41
75 Victor Langellotti (Mon) Burgos-BH 0:01:53
76 Ahmet Akdilek (Tur) Turkey 0:01:59
77 Daniel Lopez Parada (Spa) Burgos-BH 0:02:09
78 Matthew Gibson (GBr) Burgos-BH
79 Alvaro Robredo Crespo (Spa) Burgos-BH
80 Lucas De Rossi (Fra) Delko Marseille Provence KTM
81 Hiroki Nishimura (Jpn) Nippo-Vini Fantini-Faizane
82 Nelson Soto Martinez (Col) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA
83 Jordan Arley Parra Arias (Col) Manzana Postobon
84 Liam Bertazzo (Ita) Neri Sottoli–Selle Italia–KTM
85 Julen Irizar Laskurain (Spa) Euskadi Basque Country-Murias
86 Xavier Cañellas Sanchez (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA
87 Urko Berrade Fernandez (Spa) Euskadi Basque Country-Murias
88 Beñat Intxausti Elorriaga (Spa) Euskadi Basque Country-Murias
89 Robbe Ghys (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise
90 Bryan Steve Gomez Peñaloza (Col) Manzana Postobon
91 Simone Bevilacqua (Ita) Neri Sottoli–Selle Italia–KTM 0:02:24
92 Mauricio Moreira (Uru) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA 0:02:33
93 Michael Mørkøv (Den) Deceuninck-QuickStep 0:02:38
94 Dmitriy Gruzdev (Kaz) Astana Pro Team 0:02:40
95 Omar Alberto Mendoza Cardona (Col) Manzana Postobon
96 Moreno De Pauw (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise 0:03:16
97 Jose Daniel Viejo Redondo (Spa) Euskadi Basque Country-Murias 0:03:30
98 Feritcan Samli (Tur) Turkey 0:03:39
99 Jasper De Buyst (Bel) Lotto Soudal
100 Muhammed Atalay (Tur) Turkey 0:03:40
101 Roger Kluge (Ger) Lotto Soudal
102 Enzo Wouters (Bel) Lotto Soudal
103 Harm Vanhoucke (Bel) Lotto Soudal
104 Evan Huffman (USA) Rally UHC Cycling
105 Michael Schwarzmann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:03:45
106 Erik Baska (Svk) Bora-Hansgrohe
107 Lukas Pöstlberger (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe
108 Shane Archbold (NZl) Bora-Hansgrohe
109 Matteo Malucelli (Ita) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA 0:04:15
110 Gustavo Cesar Veloso (Spa) W52-FC Porto
111 Emerson Oronte (USA) Rally UHC Cycling
112 Tyler Magner (USA) Rally UHC Cycling
113 Jaco Venter (RSA) Dimension Data 0:05:13
114 Scott Davies (GBr) Dimension Data
115 Rasmus Iversen (Den) Lotto Soudal
116 Ander Barrenetxea Uriarte (Spa) Euskadi Basque Country-Murias
DNS Aleksandr Riabushenko (Blr) UAE Team Emirates

General Classification after Stage 4 :
1 Sam Bennett (Irl) Bora-Hansgrohe 16:25:42
2 Felix Großschartner (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:00:24
3 Jhonatan Restrepo Valencia (Col) Manzana Postobon 0:00:26
4 Jan Polanc (Slo) UAE Team Emirates 0:00:30
5 Gonzalo Serrano Rodriguez (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA
6 Valerio Conti (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
7 Mauro Finetto (Ita) Delko Marseille Provence KTM
8 Edgar Pinto (Por) W52-FC Porto 0:00:33
9 Christophe Noppe (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise 0:00:34
10 Sebastian Schönberger (Aut) Neri Sottoli–Selle Italia–KTM
11 Merhawi Kudus (Eri) Astana Pro Team
12 Onur Balkan (Tur) Turkey
13 Cyril Barthe (Fra) Euskadi Basque Country-Murias
14 Diego Antonio Ochoa Camargo (Col) Manzana Postobon
15 Simone Consonni (Ita) UAE Team Emirates 0:00:39
16 Christoph Pfingsten (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe
17 Remco Evenepoel (Bel) Deceuninck-QuickStep
18 Lindsay De Vylder (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise 0:00:42
19 Ben O’Connor (Aus) Dimension Data 0:00:43
20 Eduard-Michael Grosu (Rom) Delko Marseille Provence KTM 0:00:44
21 Ricardo Mestre (Por) W52-FC Porto
22 Umberto Marengo (Ita) Neri Sottoli–Selle Italia–KTM
23 Jaume Sureda Morey (Spa) Burgos-BH 0:00:46
24 Delio Fernandez Cruz (Spa) Delko Marseille Provence KTM
25 Hideto Nakane (Jpn) Nippo-Vini Fantini-Faizane
26 Etienne van Empel (Ned) Neri Sottoli–Selle Italia–KTM
27 Daniil Fominykh (Kaz) Astana Pro Team
28 Cristian Camilo Muñoz Lancheros (Col) UAE Team Emirates
29 Eros Capecchi (Ita) Deceuninck-QuickStep
30 Rafael Reis (Por) W52-FC Porto
31 Yecid Arturo Sierra Sanchez (Col) Manzana Postobon
32 Rob Britton (Can) Rally UHC Cycling
33 Kyle Murphy (USA) Rally UHC Cycling
34 Masakazu Ito (Jpn) Nippo-Vini Fantini-Faizane
35 Raul Alarcon Garcia (Spa) W52-FC Porto
36 Juan Jose Lobato Del Valle (Spa) Nippo-Vini Fantini-Faizane 0:00:49
37 Caleb Ewan (Aus) Lotto Soudal 0:00:50
38 Aaron Van Poucke (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise 0:00:55
39 Ryan Gibbons (RSA) Dimension Data
40 Mustafa Sayar (Tur) Turkey
41 Zhandos Bizhigitov (Kaz) Astana Pro Team 0:01:02
42 Yuriy Natarov (Kaz) Astana Pro Team 0:01:03
43 Lorenzo Fortunato (Ita) Neri Sottoli–Selle Italia–KTM
44 Enrique Sanz Unzue (Spa) Euskadi Basque Country-Murias 0:01:11
45 Jon Aberasturi Izaga (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA 0:01:14
46 Luca Pacioni (Ita) Neri Sottoli–Selle Italia–KTM
47 Rémy Rochas (Fra) Delko Marseille Provence KTM
48 Giovanni Lonardi (Ita) Nippo-Vini Fantini-Faizane 0:01:27
49 Javier Moreno Bazan (Spa) Delko Marseille Provence KTM 0:01:29
50 Maximiliano Richeze (Arg) Deceuninck-QuickStep 0:01:38
51 Oscar Cabedo Carda (Spa) Burgos-BH 0:01:44
52 Yevgeniy Gidich (Kaz) Astana Pro Team 0:01:53
53 Hayato Yoshida (Jpn) Nippo-Vini Fantini-Faizane
54 Ahmet Orken (Tur) Turkey 0:01:58
55 Samuel Caldeira (Por) W52-FC Porto 0:02:08
56 Ramunas Navardauskas (Ltu) Delko Marseille Provence KTM 0:02:21
57 Imerio Cima (Ita) Nippo-Vini Fantini-Faizane 0:02:33
58 Juan Sebastian Molano (Col) UAE Team Emirates 0:02:50
59 Artyom Zakharov (Kaz) Astana Pro Team 0:03:04
60 Stefan De Bod (RSA) Dimension Data
61 Davide Martinelli (Ita) Deceuninck-QuickStep 0:03:11
62 Kenny De Ketele (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise
63 Nuno Matos (Por) Burgos-BH 0:03:13
64 Julen Irizar Laskurain (Spa) Euskadi Basque Country-Murias
65 Daniel Lopez Parada (Spa) Burgos-BH 0:03:23
66 Urko Berrade Fernandez (Spa) Euskadi Basque Country-Murias
67 Luis Carlos Chia Bermudez (Col) Manzana Postobon 0:03:53
68 Omar Alberto Mendoza Cardona (Col) Manzana Postobon 0:03:54
69 Fabio Jakobsen (Ned) Deceuninck-QuickStep 0:03:57
70 Halil Dogan (Tur) Turkey 0:04:09
71 Dmitriy Gruzdev (Kaz) Astana Pro Team
72 Jordan Arley Parra Arias (Col) Manzana Postobon 0:04:13
73 Alvaro Hodeg (Col) Deceuninck-QuickStep
74 Robbe Ghys (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise
75 Lukas Pöstlberger (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:04:19
76 Harm Vanhoucke (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:04:26
77 Nelson Soto Martinez (Col) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA 0:04:29
78 Mark Renshaw (Aus) Dimension Data 0:04:34
79 Michael Mørkøv (Den) Deceuninck-QuickStep 0:04:37
80 Mark Cavendish (GBr) Dimension Data 0:04:53
81 Thimo Willems (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise 0:04:57
82 Simone Bevilacqua (Ita) Neri Sottoli–Selle Italia–KTM 0:05:35
83 Sebastian Mora Vedri (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA 0:05:39
84 Hiroki Nishimura (Jpn) Nippo-Vini Fantini-Faizane 0:05:40
85 Beñat Intxausti Elorriaga (Spa) Euskadi Basque Country-Murias
86 Roger Kluge (Ger) Lotto Soudal 0:05:46
87 José Ferreira (Por) W52-FC Porto 0:05:58
88 Victor Langellotti (Mon) Burgos-BH 0:06:05
89 Bryan Steve Gomez Peñaloza (Col) Manzana Postobon 0:06:07
90 Ahmet Akdilek (Tur) Turkey 0:06:12
91 Alvaro Robredo Crespo (Spa) Burgos-BH 0:06:13
92 Lucas De Rossi (Fra) Delko Marseille Provence KTM 0:06:17
93 Xavier Cañellas Sanchez (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA 0:06:18
94 Mauricio Moreira (Uru) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA 0:06:39
95 Matthew Gibson (GBr) Burgos-BH 0:06:43
96 Jose Daniel Viejo Redondo (Spa) Euskadi Basque Country-Murias 0:07:01
97 Pier Andre Cote (Can) Rally UHC Cycling 0:07:05
98 Shane Archbold (NZl) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:07:12
99 Scott Davies (GBr) Dimension Data 0:07:29
100 Moreno De Pauw (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise
101 John Murphy (USA) Rally UHC Cycling 0:07:34
102 Michael Schwarzmann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:07:54
103 Enzo Wouters (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:08:04
104 Gustavo Cesar Veloso (Spa) W52-FC Porto 0:08:21
105 Matteo Malucelli (Ita) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA 0:08:24
106 Erik Baska (Svk) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:08:32
107 Ander Barrenetxea Uriarte (Spa) Euskadi Basque Country-Murias 0:09:24
108 Muhammed Atalay (Tur) Turkey 0:09:45
109 Rasmus Iversen (Den) Lotto Soudal 0:09:59
110 Liam Bertazzo (Ita) Neri Sottoli–Selle Italia–KTM 0:10:01
111 Tyler Magner (USA) Rally UHC Cycling 0:10:38
112 Jasper De Buyst (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:10:49
113 Emerson Oronte (USA) Rally UHC Cycling 0:12:33
114 Feritcan Samli (Tur) Turkey 0:12:53
115 Jaco Venter (RSA) Dimension Data 0:13:05
116 Evan Huffman (USA) Rally UHC Cycling 0:14:04