Tour of Turkey: Yates wins stage 6

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Orica-GreenEdge neopro Adam Yates claimed his first win as a professional with a sensational attack 1km from the summit of stage 6 in the Tour of Turkey to claim the overall leader’s turquoise jersey from Rein Taaramäe (Cofidis) by a single second.

The 21-year old capitalised on a very rapid pace up the final ascent to Selcuk and, following a probing attack from Adam Hansen (Lotto-Belisol), Yates attacked and quickly settled into a smooth rhythm to finish alone.

Another 21-year-old neo-pro, Davide Formolo (Cannondale), finished second on the 183km stage and 42-year-old Davide Rebellin (CCC Polsat Polkowice) rounding out the stage podium. Taaramäe, racked in pain sat dejected and exhausted at the finish after crossing the line seven seconds after Yates. He is now second on GC. His teammate Romain Hardy stays in third.

Yates said: “I thought Taaramäe would have been able to follow me because he was so strong the other day, but it wasn’t to be. I am a little bit explosive now and again.”

“I barely touched the wind all day and it was quite windy. I saved energy and they put me in a good position at the bottom of the climb. I knew I had to leave it late because if I went a bit too deep I might not have made the seven seconds. I went with just 1km to go and it was pretty much full gas from there, and yes, I’m pretty happy with that.

“It’s not really sunk in,” he added when asked to comment on the feeling of his first pro victory.

“It’s pretty special and I never really expected to compete at this level so soon, but in the back of my mind maybe in two or three years I’d be able to do something big if I progressed as I wanted to.

“But I put the work in over winter and it’s paid off, obviously.”

The hot and windy stage was animated by a five-man break leading the race for the majority of the race. Arman Kamyshev (Astana), Matthias Krizek (Cannondale), Andre Greipel (Lotto-Belisol), Javier Aramendia (Caja Rural), Adrian Kurek (CCC-Polsat Polkowice) and Wesley Kreder (Wanty-Groupe Gobert) combined their efforts to force themselves off the front at the beginning of the race.

Despite stretching their advantage to 5:30, it was pulled back with 30km to go as the pace in the front group ratcheted up in preparation for the final climb that passed the ruins of Ephesus on the way to the House of the Virgin Mary at the summit.

Marc de Maar (United Healthcare) maintained his lead in the King of the Mountains competition after his team closed down the five-man break after 150km and De Maar dutifully took the prime points. He keeps a slim lead over his teammate Davide Frattini and Adam Yates in equal second place three points behind.

Mark Cavendish (Omega Pharma-QuickStep) also kept control of the best sprinter’s green jersey and Matthia Pozzo (Neri-Sotolli) the Turkish Beauties competition.

Yates said his twin brother, Simon, who crashed when his chain jammed on stage 3 of the Tour and broke his collarbone could also have been competitive in the race.

“It’s a shame really because he’s in some good form and he probably could have won on stage 3 on the mountain finish because he’s going really well since the Tour of the Basque Country,” said Adam.

Yates said he expects Team Cofidis and Taaramäe to attack his slim, one second advantage on the remaining two flat stages.

“If I was in their position now I’d do the same. But I’ve got some strong guys for example Jens Mouris; he’s like 95kg and can ride in the wind all day so hopefully we should be good.”

Tomorrow the peloton will travel a relatively short 132km stage from Kusadasi to Izmir before a plane transfer to Istanbul.

How it unfolded

The race got underway in the crowded Bodrum Harbour side and from the lowering of the flag the attacks commenced. But it was Arman Kamyshev (Astana), Matthias Krizek (Cannondale), Andre Greipel (Lotto-Belisol), Javier Aramendia (Caja Rural), Adrian Kurek (CCC-Polsat Polkowice) and Wesley Kreder (Wanty Groupe Gobert) who finally broke the shackles.

For a period, four riders – Luis Mas (Caja Rural), Denis Van Niekerk (MTN-Qhubeka), Andrea Fedi (Neri-Sottoli) and Adam Phelan (Drapac) tried in vain to bridge the gap, but neither the break would wait nor would the peloton allow a second break to swell the adventurers’ ranks.

In the break, Kamyshev didn’t stay long and after 50km he returned to the peloton to work with his Astana teammates. A further 10km on and the time gap reached its maximum of 5:30.

As the race travelled toward its conclusion, the break contested the intermediate sprint at 85km where Aramendia won followed by Krizek and Kurek over the line, and at the Turkish Beauties sprint after 123km where the top order was Greipel, Aramendia, Kurek.

However with too much at stake in the final, the peloton drastically increased the pace and the breakaway was reabsorbed with 30km to go. What followed was a flat out race to the bottom of the 5km climb, with Astana and Lampre deploying their teams at the front.

As the swift-moving peloton hit the bottom, the peloton fragmented under high pressure from Cofidis’ Chistophe le Mével. With about 3km all the main contenders for stage honours and GC glory were in place – Taaramäe, Yates, Formolo, Juan Jose Cobo (Torku-Sekerspor) and Luis Leon Sanchez (Caja-Rural) – among them. Hansen launched an attack and gained a handful of seconds. But as the group pegged him back, Yates burst out of the peloton and soon settled into a smooth pedalling rhythm with clear air around him.

Taaramäe, unable to respond was forced to ride at his limit pulling the remainder of the group with him, with some jumping out of his slipstream in pursuit of Yates. Despite a spirited fight he was unable to defend the slim advantage he had reaped on stage 3 mountain climb to Elmali.

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