Mas Bonet upsets sprinters on final stage of Tour of Turkey

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Lluis Mas Bonet (Caja Rural) caught the sprinters by surprise with a late attack to win the final stage of the Tour of Turkey. Mark Cavendish (Etixx-QuickStep) had the Spaniard in his sights with 50 metres to go but Mas Bonet held on for the biggest win of his career, while his teammate Carlos Barbero finished third.

"At the start we were only thinking about Carlos Barbero for the sprint but then in the final we entered into the final corner first place. I decided to attack and Carlos said don’t stop, don’t stop and I didn’t stop," a grinning Mas Bonet said before he stepped up on the podium to receive the plaudits.

Mas Bonet made his move as the peloton took a sharp right turn onto the cobbled climb to the finish. The dramatic narrowing of the road hampered the bunch in their chase and Mas Bonet was able to pull out 20 metre gap. Behind him Etixx-QuickStep had two men working to bring the Spaniard back but that quickly dropped to one as Tom Boonen pulled off.

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It was left to Mark Renshaw to do the work on the front but the gap to Mas Bonet was not coming down quick enough. Normally taking Cavendish to within 100 metres of the line, Renshaw was done for the day with almost half a kilometre still to run. Cavendish gave a nervous glance to his lead-out man before picking up the chase but it wasn’t enough to close down the Caja Rural rider.

Mas Bonet could hardly believe it as he crossed the line, breaking into tears as he was congratulated by his teammates. He made a second trip to the podium on Sunday afternoon to accept the jersey for the Turkish Beatuies intermediate sprint competition. It’s been a great week for the Caja Rural team, with a stage win for Pello Bilbao two days prior.

Kristijan Durasek (Lampre-Merida) finished safely in the bunch to take victory the overall classification. Eduardo Sepulveda (Bretagne-Séché Environment) took second after Davide Rebellin (CCC Sprandi) abandoned after a crash involving a dog.

How it happened

The Tour of Turkey reached its conclusion in its most iconic city of Istanbul with a short ride from Sultanahmet Square to the city centre for eight laps of a circuit. With negligible climbing to contend with the final day was set up perfectly for the sprinters but a cobbled climb in the final kilometre wouldn’t make it as clear cut as that. After his domination of the early stages, Cavendish was still the strong favourite at the start of the day.

Carlos Quintero (Colombia), Boris Vallee (Lotto-Soudal), Kenny de Ketele (Topsport Vlaanderen) and Eduard Michael Grosu (Nippo-Vini Fantini) escaped early on. The peloton kept them at close quarters over the circuit, allowing them a meagre two minute advantage. With no race radios, Etixx-QuickStep and Lampre-Merida manned the front to ensure that the quartet couldn’t slip from their grasp.

After a tough week of racing, it was a relatively straightforward day for the riders although there were concerns over safety as spectators walked across the road and Cavendish made a number of trips to the commissaires’ car to discuss the issue. In the end, it wasn’t a spectator but a stray dog that caused problems for the riders.

With 29 kilometres to the finish, second placed Rebellin and another of his CCC Sprandi teammates were caught up in a crash. Initially it looked like the incident had been caused by a touch of wheels but the reactions of the riders that had been in front of the Italian indicated that there was something more. It transpired that Rebellin had been taken down by a dog crossing the road. Medics quickly attended him, strapping his leg, but as he gripped his left arm and side it was clear that he wasn’t going to continue. Rebellin eventually climbed into an ambulance and his race was ended.

The crash didn’t disrupt the chase and the peloton, lead for well over 20 kilometres by Iljo Keisse, continued to reel in the escapees. With some help from the Drapac team, the four men were caught with 4.5 kilometres remaining. The sprinters’ teams began assembling on the front, ready for a bunch finish.

Mas Bonet had other ideas though, attacking as the peloton was squeezed on the entry to the final climb to the finish to take the final stage win.

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