Greipel records 11th stage in Tour of Turkey

Not even riding 158.9 kilometres into constant wind gusts in excess of 40km/h on stage 3 could derail Lotto Soudal’s near perfect ride to deliver sprinter André Greipel (GER) to his 11th career stage win at the Presidential Tour of Turkey (UCI 2.HC).

Lotto left the start in Aksaray in full force with all eight riders, including Greipel, Stig Broeckx (BEL), Gert Dockx (BEL), Frederik Frison (BEL), Jelle Wallays (BEL), Kris Boeckmans (BEL), Adam Hansen (AUS) and Greg Henderson (NZL), building up steam and time gaps reaching up to seven minutes with 31km remaining.

Three kilometres later, Henderson received word from team directeur sportif Mario Aerts to drop the hammer.

A sudden surge followed that split the group to pieces, leaving only two Team Roth riders, Alberto Cecchin (ITA) and Nicola Toffali (ITA), remaining in a final group of eight that still consisted of six Lotto riders after both Hansen and Wallays failed to make the cut.

“Mario said for us to throw it in the gutter and see who can stay with us,” Henderson told Eurosport. “It turned out only two guys could follow us and we just drilled it for 10 minutes and the gap just kept growing and growing.

“In the end, we just did a normal lead out for André cause it was never going to be a hotly contested sprint but we wanted to make sure we won it and we didn’t make a mess of it.”

For Aerts, the day unfolded just as the team had planned.

“This was our plan from the beginning,” Aerts told Eurosport. “It doesn’t often happen, but it worked to perfection.

“Yesterday, of course, it was on a climb and we don’t have a lot of climbers here, so we said this morning, ‘OK, the wind is going to be cross from the start, so after 3km we are going to go full on because we have a few classics specialists here and that’s our thing’ … I am happy with the result.”

Greipel, who still showed visable abrasions, as well as a noticeable limp, from a crash that occurred within the first 10km on the opening stage two days earlier, capped an exhausting day spent riding at “45 degrees” in the crosswinds with the win. Cecchin finished second, while Boeckmans took third.

“It was messy in the beginning with the wind and rain,” explained Greipel, who said he’s still in pain from the crash on day one. “There was another crash at 2km and me and Adam got stuck about 20- to 30-metres behind, but after about 30 seconds we had rejoined them.

“In the end, it was me that won the stage,” the 33-year-old German continued. “I wanted to convince the sports director to let someone else win from the team. It would have been a good thing for us if someone else could have won, but he said we have a plan this morning and we go for André and it was up to me.

“I am thankful for my teammates of course as it was a really hard day.”

Stage 2 winner Pello Bilbao (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA), who finished 2 minutes 14 seconds back in an eight-man chase group that was split from the lead group inside the final 25km, moved into the overall lead ahead of teammates José Gonçalvés (+0.05), who currently leads the points classification, and David Arroyo (+0.13), with stage 1 winner and previous race leader, Przemyslaw Niemiec (Lampre-Merida) dropping more than 22 minutes on the day.

“Looking at today’s stage, we can never say that GC is done because until the last day anything can happen,” said Bilbao. “We have to continue like that. We have a great responsability now.

“We have to go day by day, control the race, and we hope that in the 6th stage, we can be there in the top, and at least one of us can be with the jersey.”

1. André Greipel (Ger) Lotto Soudal 5:45:54

2. Alberto Cecchin (Ita) Team Roth "

3. Kris Boeckmans (Bel) Lotto Soudal "

4. Nicola Toffali (Ita) Team Roth +02"

5. Greg Henderson (NZl) Lotto Soudal +09"

6. Stig Broeckx (Bel) Lotto Soudal "

7. Gert Dockx (Bel) Lotto Soudal "

8. Frederik Frison (Bel) Lotto Soudal "

9. Roberto Ferrari (Ita) Lampre - Merida +2:13

10. Riccardo Stacchiotti (Ita) Nippo - Vini Fantini "