Kittel claims sprint win in Izmir

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Marcel Kittel of Argos-Shimano claimed his second stage victory at the 49th Presidential Tour of Turkey as he utilised his huge power on the finishing line of the second last stage in Izmir. It was again a crash-marred finale. The German, who was also involved in a massive pile-up on stage 2, managed to escape unhurt this time and easily dominated Andrea Guardini (Astana) and Maximiliano Richeze (Lampre-Merida). Mustafa Sayar (Torku Seker Spor) retained the overall leader's turquoise jersey.

"It was a very exciting finale," Kittel said before boarding a flight to Istanbul to contest the famous last stage across the two continents, Europe and Asia.

Stage 7 was hot from the beginning with high temperatures alongside the beautiful gulf of Kusadasi. It was a flying start with white jersey holder Mikhail Ignatiev having asked his teammates from Katusha to lead him out as fast as they could towards the Turkish beauty sprint near the ancient site of Ephesus after only ten kilometers of racing. The 2004 Olympic champion for points race did not miss this ideal chance to increase his lead in the classification, but he surprised the bunch as he pursued his effort and tried to break away with his teammate Viatcheslav Kuznetsov. "It's good to win a distinctive jersey but a stage win remains my goal," the Russian said, suggesting that he has a possibility to avoid a bunch sprint in Istanbul.

Once he got reined in, several attempts took place at the front of the bunch but it took 50 kilometres for a break to go ahead. The move involved Australia's Michael Hepburn (Orica-GreenEdge), Denmark's Christopher Juul Jensen (Saxo-Tinkoff), France's Benoit Jarrier (Bretagne-Séché), Bulgaria's Nikolay Mihaylov (CCC Polsat), Dutchman Martijn Verschoor (Team Novo Nordisk) and Italy's Mauro Finetto (Vini Fantini).

The six held a maximum lead of 3.04 after 61km before the gap steadily decreased. Along the way, Finetto collected the three points of the intermediate sprint at km 87.8.Twenty kilometres further down the road, by the Sehitlik Mosque (km 108), the sprint honours went to Hepburn as the peloton was only 45 km behind the break. The Australian was also the last man to refuse to give up when the pack brought back his former companions, but he finally surrendered three kilometres before the line.

Two incidents took place in the last two kilometres. Several riders, including André Greipel, took a wrong lane going into the final stretch. "But I had already decided to not contest the sprint," the green jersey holder explained. "I remembered this finale from last year and I expected a crash. I have other races to come. I've taken the right decision."

In the last kilometer, about thirty riders went down in the hairpin corner. Guardini looked very ambitious, but he was also very annoyed after losing to a very powerful Marcel Kittel as he crossed the line in second position. "There are people who believe they can sprint but they can't," he reacted, pointing out an unnamed Italian who took him off Kittel's wheel. "It's a pity because I got a great lead out and I felt I had the power to win."

However, there was no stopping Kittel when he surged. "To be honest the last two kilometres were very difficult," Kittel said. "In every team, almost everyone was losing each other. I also lost my guys, then 1,000 metres from the line I managed to find the wheel of Nikias Arndt and make it back to the front. I kept shouting at them to go, and they brought me into the last corner. I drifted to the right and I had to click out of my pedals not to crash. I managed to be back immediately and I found myself in a very good position with 500 metres to go. Then in the last 80, 70 metres, I started my sprint."

Kittel was adamant he was not driven by anger even though he had expressed it following the controversial stage victory of Sayar the day before. "What I tweeted had a reason," he said. "Everyone understood what I said. But I've raced today with no frustration. If you look at our results, I won the first stage and then I crashed and there was the mountain stage which didn't suit us. But then we had two very good results with Nikias Arndt. We can be very satisfied. Today we could again focus on our sprint. I hope we can keep it up until tomorrow."

The Argos-Shimano sprinter is also a logical favorite for Sunday's final 121-km stage in Istanbul along with compatriot Greipel. The two Germans are equal on stage wins with two each but for several reasons, they have yet to start their highly expected duel.

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