Tom Crabbe (Team Flanders-Baloise) stormed to his third victory of the season on the opening stage at the Presidential Tour of Turkey on Sunday, timing his sprint to perfection in Selçuk.
WorldTour team Picnic PostNL seemed to have control heading into the final 2km, but they quickly ran out of firepower and steam as they went under the flamme rouge and were overhauled by Alpecin-Premier Tech for the front position.
Simon Dehairs hit out for glory for Alpecin in the final 200 metres, but Crabbe started his sprint behind and slingshotted out of the wheel to overtake his compatriot before the line arrived. Davide Persico (MBH Bank CSB Telecom Fort) was third on the day.
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20-year-old Crabbe, who burst onto the scene fully this season with pro wins at the Etoile de Bessèges and Ruta del Solo, moves into the first leader's jersey of the race, with several more sprint opportunities to come across the seven remaining days of racing in Turkey.
Stage 1 was a very straightforward day of racing starting in Çeşme, with a five-rider break getting up the road: Mewael Girmay (Istanbul Team), Michał Pomorski (ATT Investments), Ahmet Can Akpınar (Konya Büyükşehir Belediye Spor), Halil İbrahim Doğan (Muğla Büyükşehir Belediyesi Spor Kulübü), and Kaan Soylu Ozkalbim (Spor Toto Cycling Team).
They got more than three minutes up the road over the only categorised climb of the day, but with the remaining 120km of the stage being largely flat, a bunch sprint was expected and did materialise, with Pomorski the last man standing to be caught in the final 10km.
Racing continues for stage 2 tomorrow with an undulating 152.8km route from Aydın to Marmaris.
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