Tour of Turkey: Prades snatches overall victory from Lutsenko

Image 1 of 39

Eduard Prades (Euskadi Murias) snatched overall victory at the Tour of Turkey from Andrey Lutsenko (Astana) thanks to second place on the final stage to Istanbul, a six-second time bonus and better placings during the six days of racing. 

Prades and Lutsenko finished equal on time, but Prades' second place proved decisive as Lutsenko was only 13th on the final stage.

Katusha-Alpecin's Nathan Haas, who had been four seconds down in second and hoping to go for the win today, finished third overall, at four seconds. Diego Ulissi (UAE Team Emirates) was fourth, also at four seconds.

Sam Bennett (Bora-Hansgrohe) won the final stage, opting to attack with more than a kilometre to go rather than wait for the narrow sprint finish. He stayed away to celebrate with his arms in the air. BMC Racing’s Jempy Drucker was third.

The last two kilometres were curving and slightly climbing, and Bennett jumped from the rushing field with 1.5km to go. The Irish rider quickly built up enough of a gap that he was able to take out in the final hundred meters and savour his win. 

“I know the finish here pretty well and what it’s like, so I made the jump and went hard on the climb as much as I could. If you do that then you can recover round the corners. I looked back and saw I had done it when I got round the last corner because they were gone," Bennett explained.

“That wouldn’t have been possible today without the team, they were brilliant. It feels like I’ve managed to get some redemption after my crash here last year. For that and the type of finish it was today I think it was probably my favourite win out of any I’ve had.

“It’s great for morale going in to next season. I really want a leadership role at Paris-Nice and the Giro d’Italia and I’ll speak to the team in the next couple of weeks to plan out the season. But this has definitely got my spirits high going in to next year.”

Prades naturally celebrated the biggest win of his career with his teammates. 

“We knew looking at the GC that it was nearly impossible because there wouldn’t be many opportunities but I liked the finish and it's one I know well so I knew it wasn’t impossible if I could get in the right position,"Prades explained.

“I managed to get in the right wheels up the climb and hold my strength in to the corners and I knew I had a chance.

“It’s been a great year for me and the team and we have had some good wins now like this one of course, the Vuelta and others and it’s just the best way to finish the season.”

How it unfolded

The decisive final stage to Instanbul featured a rolling course with one categorised climb and a ride through the Eurasia Tunnel, connecting Anatolia and Europe, 100 meters underneath the sea.

A three-man escape group eventually formed, including Louis Vervaeke (Team Sunweb), Danilo Wyss (BMC Racing) and Preben Van Hecke (Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise). They were later joined by Benat Txoperena (Euskadi-Murias), Nikolay Mihaylov (Delko Marseille Provence KTM), Muhammed Atalay (Turkey), Christophe Masson (WB Aqua Protect Veranclassic) and Pavel Cieślik (CCC). After nearly 90 km, the octet had just over three minutes on the field.

That gap gradually dropped and with 48km left, it was down to 1:15. With 44 km to go, Masson had to drop out of the group after his pedal came off the spindle. Multiple bike changes threw him further back and Atalay also left the group.

With the overall victory still up for grabs, the break group never had a chance, with the peloton also keen to fight for overall victory. Mihaylov was the next to be dropped, as the Eurasia Tunnel approached. The 5.4km long tunnel was only two lanes wide but relatively well-lit.

Vervaeke jumped from his remaining three break companions in the streets of Instanbul but he too was soon caught with 6.5km left. The front of the field was tightly packed as the sprinters’ teams wanted to set up their leaders for the stage win, whilst Astana and Katusha were fighting for the overall classification.

The narrow, twisting finish broke up the field and the sprint trains. Bora-Hansgrohe lead out Bennett but hit the front too early. Bennett took control and jumped with 1.5km to go, challenging his sprint rivals. Nobody had the speed or team to chase him, with Zdenek Stybar (Quick Step Floors) soon easing up. Bennett used his power to stay clear and celebrated in style, finishing six seconds ahead of the chasing field.

A crash in the field on a late corner shuffled the peloton and cost Lutsenko a better place and perhaps overall victory. Prades was ahead of him and made sure he finished second to set up his smash and grab overall success.  

Results