Late crash disrupts stage 5 sprint in Turkey

Stage 5 of the Tour of Turkey was the longest of the race thus at 180 kilometers. The peloton allowed a group of six riders a maximum advantage of 5 minutes 30 seconds before the chase was started and the race ultimately came down to a bunch sprint.

General Manager, Vassili Davidenko:

“The results sheet might not accurately display how well the guys did today. They were again strong, especially as today was the longest of the race so far. We saw great teamwork with Umberto positioning Andrea and Matyas with 5 kilometres to go right on the front of the peloton.”

“The last few km’s were very technical. Crashes disrupted the sprint trains and luckily our guys didn’t go down but Matyas has to unclip which basically meant a chance of going for a result was over. Tomorrow is even longer at 193km but it’s great to see the guys so motivated to finish strong here.”

Matyas Kopecky:

“We had a hard start with short climbs in the beginning. Once the breakaway went things settled down and it was a regular day with the bunch controlling the race. We were together throughout the stage with the guys fetching bottles and feeding us. Umberto was really strong again today to bring myself and Andrea to the front for the final.”

“With 2km to go I moved up some places to enter the top 20 and get ready for the sprint but there was total chaos in the last kilometer with crashes. I had to unclip with 400m to go to stay upright and dropped my chain so lost all my momentum and my day was over. My legs were actually really good so now we’ll start discussing the next stages.”