Last year Theo Bos won two stages with Mark Renshaw picking up a third win and with another sprint-heavy race set to start Sunday, Blanco have prepared for the race accordingly.
The team held a training camp in Girona, Spain, last week with both Renshaw and Bos testing their sprint legs. How the team will split duties between the two fastmen is yet to be seen, however. Bos has already picked up four wins this season, while Renshaw, who has had a slow start to the campaign, has already stated his desire for more opportunities.
Former sprinter, and Blanco Sports Director, Jeroen Blijlevens, explained that the team have expectations after their success last year.
“The bar is set high,” Blijlevens said. “But after the training camp I have the feeling that we are ready. We had the chance to train under favourable circumstances whereas earlier this year that was not the case. We made video analyses and could evaluate our sprinting. Of course, training is different than competition but the Tour of Turkey should be a good test. There is a strong field that is also ready so it’s going to be a stiff challenge."
This year’s Tour of Turkey follows a similar profile to last year but with Gerald Ciolek (MTN-Qhubeka), Marcel Kittel (Argos-Shimano), Andrea Guardini (Astana), Francesco Chicchi (Vini Fantini), Bryan Coquard (Europcar), Leigh Howard and Aidis Kruopis (Orica GreenEdge), and Andre Greipel all taking part, Blanco will be competing against some of the best sprinters in the world.
“We were already good, but polished our act in Girona,” Theo Bos said.
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“I’ve got a good feeling and it would be great to repeat our performance from last year. I hope that we can take at least one stage win. That should be possible considering that fact we’re even more focused on the sprint train than the last time out."
