Jaime Roson wins Tour of Turkey stage 6 on summit finish

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Race leader Pello Bilbao fell sick with a stomach bug on the eve of the queen stage but his Caja Rural-RGA retained the overall race leadership at the Presidential Tour of Turkey, with Portuguese all rounder José Gonçalves moving into the lead after their neo-pro Jaime Roson outsprinted stage one winner Przemyslaw Niemiec of Lampre-Merida to win the stage atop the grueling climb of Göğübeli -seen as the key mountain stage of the Presidential Tour of Turkey.

“This is absolutely fantastic,” Roson reacted after his first ever win as a professional rider.

“I was close to winning the queen stage at the Vuelta Castilla y Leon but Alejandro Valverde brought me back with 400 metres to go. I didn’t feel good all day today after I worked a lot for the team during the previous days but I felt much better towards the end. Even though Niemiec caught me, I still had enough energy to beat him. It’s also thanks to our strategy. We had planned to have someone in the early break to force CCC to chase so we could remain quietly in the peloton before the final climb.”

The stage was a controlled affair until the climb to the finish. A breakaway was formed following Eduard Michael Grosu’s attack at kilometre 14. The Romanian from Nippo-Vini Fantini was rejoined by Ilia Koshevoy (Lampre-Merida), Stig Broeckx (Lotto-Soudal), Antonio Piedra (Funvic-Soul), Antonio Viola (Nippo-Vini Fantini), Nicolas Baldo (Roth), Galym Akhmetov (Astana City), Peter Schulting (Parkhotel Valkenburg), Nazim Bakirci (Torku), Enrico Salvador (Unieuro) and Gonçalves. CCC Polsat, who had ambitions for the stage victory, controlled the gap of the peloton just above two minutes.

Schulting, Broeckx and Bakirci rode away in the first category climb after 54.7km and then Baldo and Piedra went across. Their adventure came to an end with 30km to go, soon followed by an attack by Dominik Hrinkow (Hrinkow Advarics) and Simone Petilli (Lampre-Merida). It became a leading quartet with Liam Bertazzo (Southeast) and Daniele Colli (Nippo-Vini Fantini) adding their strength with 25km to go. They had one minute lead over the main peloton entering the final 20km.

Final attacks

Petilli forged on with 10km to go bur he was reined in by a group of 23 riders, six kilometres before the summit finish as the gradient steepened. Koshevoy accelerated with two kilometres to go, taking Roson and Jan Hirt (CCC) with him. Roson continued solo but Niemiec gradually came across to him under the flamme rouge. The young Spaniard, who secured his first pro contract by finishing twelfth at the USA Pro Challenge during his period as a trainee with Caja Rural-RGA in August last year, still had the kick needed for the final uphill stretch. He first matched Niemiec and then cracked him, gonig ahead to win.

“I thought he would be more tired than he effectively was”, Niemiec commented. “What a pity. I accelerated at the right moment. I fought till the end but I couldn’t get the stage win. However, I’m happy to lead the mountains classification. It shows that I’m climbing well and the preparation for the Giro has gone well. I’m satisfied with my results at the TUR so far: a stage win, a second place, a fourth one. After an early part of the season that was so so, I’m in a great shape now.”

His compatriot Pawel Cieslik, 30, was a surprise third placed. He rode in France as a junior and four years with Elite club teams CR4C Roanne and VC Vaulx-en-Velin until he finally turned professional with Mroz in 2009. This is his first stint in the Professional Continental ranks with newly upgraded Verva-Activejet.

“I was here to work for our leader Karel Hnik but I happened to be at the front”, Cieslik said. “I liked this mountain very much. It was a good finish for me. I’ve thought I was going to win but it was difficult against Lampre-Merida and Caja Rural, they were very strong. However, this is a good result for my team. It’s our first season as a Professional Continental team. It’s a pity I was sick during the Tour of Catalunya, which was our first wild card in the WorldTour, but the Tour of Turkey is the second biggest event we get a chance to take part in.”

With Bilbao sick and distances early on the 10km climb, it was up to Gonçalves to handle the responsibility of the leadership for Caja Rural-RGA who had the top three positions on GC before the race. He handled it well.

“I wanted to be in good shape for Tirreno-Adriatico but it didn’t work out”, the Portuguese rider explained. “I lost motivation for a while but with our good showing here in Turkey, I became super motivated again. After the work Ricardo Vilela did for me in the final climb today, I couldn’t let him down. I now lead the race with two days to but a race is only won on the last day. There are still a few climbs and it only takes a small sickness like it happen to Pello to lose it all.”

Gonçalves leads teammate David Arroyo by 18 seconds, with Nikita Stalnov (Astana City) third overall at 46 seconds.

Saturday’s 126km penultimate and seventh stage is from Fethiye and Marmaris and includes a late climb that should inspire attack and make the sprinters suffer for a chance of victory.

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