Today it was the last stage of the Tour of Turkey 2014 (Istanbul-Istanbul), the 50th edition of the race. I went to watch the stage.
In the morning, it was raining heavily. I usually go to watch the race in Istanbul by bike, but today I decided to use the mass transit. So I skipped the neutral start at Sultanahmet and went directly to the Asian side of Istanbul, where the peloton did 8 loops.
On the Asian side, the Sun showed its face and the temperature increased dramatically.
A five-man break eventually broke free of the peloton after 20 km of racing. However, the break’s contributors Valerio Conti (Lampre), Paolo Colonna (Bardiani-CSF), Javier Aramendia (Caja Rural), Tomasz Kiendys (CCC Polsat Polkowice ), Nazim Bakirci (Torku Sekerspor), Youcef Reguigui (MTN-Qhubeka), and Javier Megias Leal (Team Novo Nordisk) never gained more than 20 seconds over the peloton and finally, they were all mopped up by the sprint trains with 10 km to go.
Mark Cavendish won the stage, his fourth win at this years’ Tour of Turkey. Viviani finished in second, and Guardini finished in third.
- What is a Satellite Rider? [Explained] - July 24, 2024
- Tour de France Winner Groupsets [Year by Year, from 1937 to 2024] - July 21, 2024
- Top 18 fastest Paris-Roubaix editions - April 7, 2024
