Win number three for Greipel

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André Greipel (HTC-Columbia) won for the third time at the Tour of Turkey today, besting Mattia Gavazzi (Colnago - CSF Inox) and Kenny Van Hummel (Skil-Shimano) in the wild field sprint deciding stage five.

Despite being challenged by Colnago-CSF Inox and Skil-Shimano in the final kilometres, the German's HTC-Columbia teammates remained unfazed and provided a perfect lead-out for Greipel who won for the ninth time this season.

Tempers flared after the stage as Marco Frapporti (Colnago - CSF Inox) got into a heated argument with Vladimir Isaychev (Xacobeo Galicia) due to the Russian's repeated attempts to push his way into the Italian team's lead-out train approaching the finish.

The teams of the sprinters swept up a six-man break with six kilometres remaining after the sextet spent 213 kilometres off the front, having attacked only two kilometres into the longest stage of the Tour of Turkey.

"It was a really tough stage with 2,500 metres of climbing straight after 3,000 metres the day before, but we managed to bring back a dangerous break with seven kilometres to go and then set things up for the sprint," said Greipel. "We took the lead, the guys kept me up there and [HTC-Columbia's] Mark Renshaw and Frankie Rabon kept the pace high in the last couple of kilometres until I accelerated away myself. I went with maybe 300 metres to go, which was a long way out, but I knew if I didn't go early I'd get boxed in."

Greipel has never taken so many wins so early in the season and says he is hopeful his run of victories will continue. "This time last year I was out of racing because of a crash earlier in the season, so it's nice to be doing well and to be in good shape."

Race leader Giovanni Visconti (ISD-Neri) was gapped slightly at the finish and crossed the line in a group three seconds behind Greipel. However, the Italian's GC rivals also finished in the same group leaving the overall standings unchanged. Visconti leads Tejay Van Garderen (HTC-Columbia) by 16 seconds and David Moncoutié (Cofidis) by 27 seconds.

The longest stage sees the longest break

Only two kilometres into the 221km stage, the longest of the Tour of Turkey, six riders attacked for the break of the day. The sextet included Adriano Malori (Lampre-Farnese Vini), Christoph Sokoll (Vorarlberg-Corratec), Jose Alberto De Segovia (Xacobeo Galicia), Remi Pauriol (Cofidis), Aristide Ratti (Carmiooro NGC) and Sergio Lagana (De Rosa-Stac Plastic).

Pauriol was best-placed on general classification of the six escapees, holding 9th overall at 4:59 to Visconti. At kilometre 65 the break achieved its largest lead at 4:20, but the ISD-Neri led peloton kept the escape in check to protect Visconti's overall lead.

Inside of 60km to go the teams of the sprinters, particularly HTC-Columbia, Skil-Shimano and Colnago-CSF Inox, contributed riders to the chase to ensure the demise of the break. With 48km remaining to the finish the break's lead slipped under two minutes and at kilometre 16 the peloton reduced the advantage to one minute.

After spending 206 kilometres sharing the workload equally, the cohesion of the break came to an end with 13 kilometres remaining as Pauriol put in a strong attack. The Frenchman was pursued by Malori and De Segovia but the escapees were no match for an inspired peloton stretched out single file on the straight run-in to the finish in Fethiye, gearing up for a field sprint.

After spending 213 kilometres off the front, the break was finally absorbed with only six kilometres remaining. While Pauriol's stint off the front didn't result in any changes on general classification, the Frenchman did lead the break over both of the stage's category 1 ascents, the Kazikbeli at 31.5km and the Rifat Caliskan Memorial KOM at 127km. The 10 points earned for each of the KOMs moved the Cofidis rider into the mountains classification lead.

Over the final kilometres the lead-out trains for Team HTC-Columbia, Skil-Shimano and Colnago-CSF Inox fought for supremacy at the head of affairs with Greipel once again being delivered to the line perfectly for his third victory of the Tour of Turkey.

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