Greipel quickest of Finike break

Andre Greipel (Omega Pharma-Lotto) won stage 6 of the Presidential Tour of Turkey in Finike, the Mediterranean town famous for its oranges. But that was his first stage win in the eight-day long event, so he won’t be able to equal the five victories he got in 2010.

Rather than being escorted by the train of HTC-Columbia, he was the only rider from his new Omega Pharma-Lotto team in the breakaway. Greipel benefited from the commitment of the Astana, FDJ and Team Type 1 teams, who were looking to move Alexander Efimkin, Andrey Zeits and Thibaut Pinot respectively into the first three positions on GC at the expense of former race leader Thomas Peterson and runner up Cameron Wurf, who did not have the same level of support from their respective teams, Garmin-Cervélo and Liquigas-Cannondale.

“It was a different way of winning here today than last year when it was a bunch sprint, but I’m still a sprinter,” Greipel said. “Anyone from my team could have been in the breakaway today, and all of us jumped in the first moves.”

With a tail wind, the attackers had to wait for the 50km to be able to break away. 12 of them made the move: Andre Greipel (Omega Pharma-Lotto), Aitor Perez Arrieta (Lampre-ISD), Jonas Jorgensen and Jaroslaw Marycz (Saxo Bank-SunGard), Assan Basayev (Astana), Wesley Sulzberger (FDJ), Jurgen Van Goolen (Vérandas Willems), Jesus Del Nero (NetApp), Patrick McCarthy (Spidertech), Arturo Mora (Caja Rural), Ronan Van Zandbeek (Skil-Shimano) and Laszlo Bodrogi (Team Type 1). They got a maximum lead of three minutes but it diminished rapidly as the FDJ team put the hammer down on the main climb of the day with 70km to go.

“I was lucky to be in that group,” Greipel explained. “Actually, I was not so happy to be there because I was pretty tired from the day before. But I realized that I was in a good situation with Efimkin riding for GC.”

Efimkin, Zeits and Pinot were the riders from the previous day’s breakaway who made it across to the initial front group. A new leading peloton of thirty riders formed with 60 kilometres to go. FDJ had the biggest numbers in the group, thanks to the presence of Sandy Casar, Francis Mourey, Arthur Vichot, Sulzberger and Pinot. Astana had Alexandre Dyachenko, Sergey Renev and Bazayev in support of Zeits, while Rubens Bodrogi and Bertogliati were two absolute specialists of time trial at the service of Efimkin.

“Both have done a great job at the front of the breakaway today”, the Russian noted. “I owe them a big thank you.” Ramunas Navardauskas did a formidable job of keeping the deficit of the group of ten chasing the thirty leaders to within a minute. But he was the only rider from Garmin-Cervélo there, and race leader Peterson was suffering from the efforts he produced in the breakaways in the previous two stages.

With front group riding flat out until the finishing town of Finike, it ultimately came down to a sprint. Leopold König (NetApp) and Marycz tried to anticipate it, but it turned into an easy one for Greipel who found a totally different way to win. One year ago, he was escorted by the train of HTC-Columbia but here he proved that he is equally adept at sprinting by himself. “It’s always nice to try and win differently”, Greipel told Cyclingnews.

It was impressive to see how happy the crowd was in Finike to see Greipel win. The German has become famous because of the impact he had on the race in 2010 and his picture in a winning pose is everywhere along the roads of Turkey to promote an event that is becoming more and more popular every year.

It is also a hugely interesting race, as Efimkin became the sixth leader in as many stages of the 47th Presidential Tour of Turkey after Andrea Guardini, Valentin Iglinskiy, Manuel Belletti, Bartosz Huzarski and Peterson. The Russian reckoned he has taken a serious option on the final win.

“I think we’re able to keep the lead till the end,” Efimkin said. “We have an excellent relationship with the Astana team. I also have to thank them and FDJ for the turns that made me a race leader. The day before yesterday was the hardest with the terrain and the rain, but yesterday was hard as well and so was today. This race is well organised. I take the opportunity of being the leader here to spread the message of our team: we’re here to support diabetic people and change their life.”

Stage 7 from Tekirova to Manavgat (138km) is expected to feature the sprinting clash of the titans, as Greipel and Alessandro Petacchi have found rhythm of the race by now and whetted their appetite for victory. It will also be the Italian’s only opportunity to have a standard sprint before the Giro d’Italia, as he has planned to leave the Tour of Turkey one day before the end. In addition, the Garmin-Cervélo team is seeking revenge. After losing hold of the GC, they will be looking for Tyler Farrar to bag the first Turkish win of his career.

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