Tour of Turkey: Modolo gifts Colnago another win

Italy's Sacha Modolo sealed a great collective effort by his young Colnago team to win the 179-kms sixth stage of the Tour of Turkey in Kusadasi on Friday, 24 hours after teammate Andra Di Corrado won the fifth in Turgutreis. "That was a long awaited one!" Modolo said. His victory salute included putting his thumb in his mouth, to dedicating his victory to his girlfriend and their child due to be born in September.

The victory was all the sweeter for the 24-year-old Modolo, as the bunch sprint started with 500 metres to go, just after the end of the dream for his teammate Enrico Battaglin. The son of Giro d'Italia and Vuelta a Espana winner in 1981, who is in the top ten overall, was on the attack four kilometres from the line. Following the example of Di Corrado, the Colnago-CSF team is all fired up as the young contingent of the Reverberi's squad is also competing for internal spots on the line up for the Giro next week.
"We are a close knit group," Modolo said. "After this victory, I ask one thing of Reverberi, to bring [lead-out man Marco] Coledan to the start of the Giro."

Modolo got a very convincing win ahead of two of the fastest men in the world, Matt Goss (GreenEdge) and Mark Renshaw (Rabobank). Goss scored his fourth second place in six stages at the Presidential Tour of Turkey. Last year's hero of Milan-San Remo is yet to claim his first win this year, but his condition looks excellent prior to travelling to Denmark for the start of the Giro in Herning.

"It was a hard day," Goss told Cyclingnews in Kusadasi. "I was in the front all day, except in the group of fifteen that went away. We wanted to bring that breakaway back because there was an opportunity for a finish with a small bunch, but all sprinters came back as well eventually. We had a good run down the final hill but Modolo did a very good sprint! I'm not close to the win today."

It wasn't a standard sprinters' stage indeed. It was the longest of this 2012 Tour of Turkey, and it began with a crash in a long descent shortly after the start in Bodrum. Leonardo Giordani (Farnese Vini) and Assan Bazayev (Astana) were unfortunately forced out early in the race. After the crash, echelons took place in the pack on the windy roads along the beautiful seafront but the bunch partly regrouped as the race was nearing the second category climb of the day at kilometre 54. Colombia's Fabio Duarte (Colombia-Coldeportes) was first at the top ahead of Marco Bandiera (Omega Pharma-Quick Step), who took the King of the Mountain red jersey away from overall leader Ivaïlo Gabrovski who was busy enough to defend his lead.

"I've followed all the riders who were dangerous on GC," Gabrovski said. "Many thought that today was the last chance for changes on GC and I agree! But I'll only sleep well tomorrow evening if I remain the race leader on the eve of the final stage in Istanbul."

At halfway into stage 6, Gabrovski was one of the 21 riders away. Eight other riders from the top ten on GC were there as well. The only one missing was Will Routley (Spidertech). No fewer than five riders from Bretagne-Schuller were part of the move: Laurent Pichon, Florian Vachon, Geoffroy Lequatre, Florian Guillou and Romain Hardy. They were still bitter the day after the missed opportunity to dethrone Gabrovski with fifth placed Sébastien Duret in the leading group on stage 5 and teams like Accent Jobs and Utensilnord favoring the return of Gabrovski's peloton.

Young Frenchman Romain Bardet (AG2R-La Mondiale) tried once again to drop Gabrovski with 20km to go but the Bulgarian got back on. "Because of the heat and the length of the stage, it was the hardest day in the Tour of Turkey," said Gabrovski who is two days away from the most unexpected win of his career at the age 34 against nine Pro Teams and fourteen Pro Continental teams.

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