Kittel completes hat-trick in Istanbul

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Marcel Kittel (Argos-Shimano) claimed his third victory of the Presidential Cycling Tour of Turkey with an impressive sprint in Istanbul. In a grandstand finish, the German saw off the challenge of Andrea Guardini (Astana) and Andrew Fenn (Omega Pharma-QuickStep) to take the win.

There was no change in the final general classification, as Mustafa Sayar (Torku Sekerspor) sealed overall victory. The Turk finished the race 41 seconds ahead of Eritrea’s Natnael Berhane (Europcar) and 44 seconds clear of Yoann Bagot (Cofidis).

Kittel was pleased to rebound from a less than ideal start to the race to take home a hat-trick of victories.

“It was quite a heavy week with the heavy crash on stage 2. I was even not sure if I could start the next day, but fortunately I was able to carry on and look back now on good week with three wins," Kittel said.

“We stayed in front coming into the finish and the boys were in a good position. We were maybe a little too early but we are at a level now that we can deal with these kind of situations. I am really proud of this week.

“The team as a whole have made big improvements from last year, and I feel that I’ve made a step myself too, but all the riders became stronger and it showed in the way that we handle situations. This is what this team is about and it is great to see it happen."

Overall race winner Sayar was proud to deliver the final victory to a home team. "First of all I m very happy for myself and for my team that we won the biggest Tour organized in Turkey. Thanks to everybody, my teammates and everyone coming here to support us, my team and myself. This Tour was very hard. On the other hand, we were lucky that the profile of some stages were adequate, suited us and favoured us. Overall, I'm very happy."

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