Tour of Turkey: Niemiec goes solo to win opening stage

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Born in Oswiecim 36 years ago, Przemyslaw Niemiec, the Lampre-Merida climber whose name means "German" in Polish, delivered a surprise victory in Istanbul at the Tour of Turkey as he reached the mythical district of Sultanahmet with a 16-second lead over the peloton after breaking away early.

"It's a surprise indeed," Niemiec admitted. "At the start, everybody expected a bunch sprint finish but when my breakaway companions decided to give up as our advantage was reduced to 40 seconds, I decided to continue. I'm glad I did. This victory is important for me and for Lampre-Merida. I had a lot of bad luck last year and as a team, we didn't have the best early part of the season this year and we came here to do well after we won the Tour of Turkey with Kristijan Durasek last year."

The Croatian started as a defending champion with a suspected fractured rib after he badly crashed at the Giro del Appenino one week ago. Therefore, Lampre-Merida could use diverse tactics in stage 1, the ultimate one being to set up a sprint finish for Sacha Modolo who is the most notable sprinter of this event after André Greipel.

The race started with a 17km-long neutralization due to crashes that notably affected Carlos Barbero (Caja Rural-RGA) who was one of the stage’s favourites and Davide Rebellin (CCC Sprandi-Polkowice) who was forced to pull out of the Tour of Turkey one year ago due to an injury on the last day in Istanbul while he was second on GC.

Following the second start proper with 113km of actual racing to go, a four-man breakaway took shape including Rémy Di Gregorio (Delko Marseille Provence), Przemyslaw Niemiec (Lampre-Merida), Nikita Stalnov (Astana City) and José Gonçalves (Caja Rural-RGA). But the latter suffered a mechanical in the only categorized climb of the day after 29km covered. Di Gregorio crested the summit first and therefore secured the King of the Mountains lead after winning that same price at the Tour La Provence in February and the Criterium International.

"I'd like to do it here as well but it's too early to make it a goal," the Frenchman said. "This is new to me. I don't know the climbs in Turkey."

Adam Hansen (Lotto-Soudal) and Lluis Mas (Caja Rural-RGA) made it across to the three remaining leaders with 90km to go. Setting the pace of the peloton, the Southeast-Venezuela team stabilized the time gap around two minutes until they received some help from CCC Sprandi Polkowice with 57km to go. Niemiec rode away solo with 39.5km remaining on the scenic laps around Istanbul's historical district of Sultanahmet. Hansen, Mas, Di Gregorio and Stalnov waited for the peloton.

"I don’t know if the people in the peloton didn’t know that he was still away or if they didn't know who Niemiec is but he's a top rider," commented Mas, who won the classification of the beauties of Turkey last year and took the white jersey again after winning the sprint on the Galata bridge. "With three minutes lead, of course he could win the race."

Interestingly, Niemiec made a bigger gap for himself than previously with his four breakaway companions. His advantage reached three minutes with 23km to go while Southeast-Venezuela couldn't find any ally to bring the peloton back onto the Polish rider. Niemiec still had 2.45 lead with 15km to go so the way was paved for a surprise victory near the Blue Mosque.

The Lotto-Soudal team finally showed up in the first positions of the peloton with 8km to go but it was too late to catch the lone leader.

"I dedicate this victory to my wife and my two children, the third one is due to arrive in September," said Niemiec, who kissed his two arms as a victory salute in Sultanahmet. Gonçalves rode strongly to second place to make it up for his disappointment of being ejected from the early breakaway.

The new format of the 2.HC event attended by UCI president Brian Cookson enabled the continental team Parkhotel Valkenburg to make the podium ceremony with Marco Zanotti, third.

"Had it been a bunch sprint for the win, I might have won," Zanotti said. "I love those finales with 90° curves like this. Anyway, to make the podium in such an important race is great. We're a small team and this is the biggest race we get access to. It's a great incentive for racing well." 

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