Tour of Turkey: Mark Cavendish wins stage 2

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Mark Cavendish (Deceuninck-QuickStep) claimed his first victory in over three years when he won stage 2 of the Tour of Turkey, beating Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Fenix) and André Greipel (Israel Start-Up Nation) in a bunch sprint in Konya.

Philipsen hit the front early after a fine lead-out from his Alpecin-Fenix squad but Cavendish gaged his effort well, biding his time on Greipel’s wheel before emerging to swoop past the German and Philipsen within the final 100m to take stage victory and the overall lead.

“It’s incredible, it’s really, really nice. It’s super nice. I never get tired of that feeling,” Cavendish said. 

“Turkey is not the Tour de France but to beat Jasper and André isn’t easy.”

The Manxman hadn’t tasted victory since he landed a stage of the Dubai Tour in February 2018, at a time when he was still hampered by Epstein Barr Virus. He continued to struggle in the intervening period, however, and he appeared on the brink of retirement after a difficult 2020 in the colours of Bahrain-McLaren.

Cavendish had shown signs of a return to form since returning to Deceuninck-QuickStep over the winter, claiming second place at the GP Monseré and third at Scheldeprijs last week. After placing 4th on the opening stage in Turkey, Cavendish tailored his sprint to the technical final 500m in Konya on Monday.

Philipsen kicked for home with 200m to go and opened what looked to be a winning gap, but Cavendish remained on his old rival Greipel’s wheel until they negotiated the gently curving bend with 150m to go. After passing Greipel on the right-hand side, Cavendish swooped past Philipsen’s left shoulder to take stage victory.

"We didn’t do exactly what I wanted with the guys, we still burned up too many guys early. We’re here only with six riders and Fabio [Jakobsen] is not able to go deep into the finales so we only have five guys. We had to be conservative, but we didn’t do it really. But everyone committed which is the main thing,” said Cavendish, who paid tribute to Alvaro Hodeg’s efforts in the final kilometre.

“I knew if I was on Greipel’s wheel, I’d be in with a shot coming into the last couple of hundred metres. Philipsen jumped early and had a small gap. I was surprised at how quickly I came in the final.

Stage 1 winner Arvid de Kleijn (Rally Cycling) was a little too far back when the sprint began and he had to settle for fourth place in Konya, conceding his overall lead to Cavendish in the process, while Stanislaw Aniolkowski (Bingoal WB) claimed 5th.

How it unfolded

It was another frigid day in the uplands of the Central Anatolian Plateau, with the bulk of the peloton wrapped up warmly, mindful that the day’s stage would take place entirely above an altitude of 1,000 metres.

The bulk of the day’s climbing was concentrated in the first third of the stage, and Samuele Zoccarato (Bardiani-CSF-Faizanè), Meindert Weulink (ABLOC CT), Vitaliy Buts (Salcano Sakarya), Ayrtom Zakarov (Astana Premier Tech), Juan Antonio Lopez-Cozar (Burgos BH), Josu Etxebarria (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA), Szymon Tracz (Nippo-Provence-PTS) and Ulises Castillo (Wildlife Generation) forged clear in the opening kilometres.

From the outset, there were clear limits placed on the escapees’ freedom, and their gap never stretched as far as two minutes, with a willing coalition of sprinters’ teams eager to ensure that the opportunity didn’t pass the fast men by.

Buts led the break over the day’s opening climb, which brought the race to an altitude just shy of 1500m, and he was first to the top once again on the second ascent, but the peloton was never much more than arm’s length away.

With 30km to go, the gap was down to half a minute or so, with Rally, Delko and Deceuninck-QuickStep setting the pace in the peloton. They were content to let the escapees remain at that distance for much of the run-in, though the pace began to rise steadily inside the final 20km, and there was some nervousness, too, with Nikolas Zukowsky (Rally) among the fallers, though the Canadian remounted quickly and completed the stage in the peloton.

The break splintered inside the final 10km, with Tracz and the Mexican champion Castillo the last men standing, but they were swept up with 7km to go. Eolo-Kometa, Israel Start-Up Nation and B&B Hotels were all prominent on the run-in, but it was Alpecin-Fenix who took control in the final kilometre, where Matteo Malucelli (Androni-Sidermec) was a faller.

Fresh from Scheldeprijs victory, Philipsen looked poised to rack up another win when he hit the front inside the final 200m, but Cavendish’s late surge carried the day.

“I thought I was going to win. But in the finale, Cavendish came over so yes, it’s disappointing,” Philipsen said. 

“I had a really good lead-out so it’s just my fault that I couldn’t finish it off. It was a super strong team, but I wasn’t good enough to cap it off.”

Greipel, who had to settle for third, was, as ever, magnanimous in defeat.

 “I didn’t do my best sprint today. I was beaten by better sprinters than myself,” he said, though he might take some solace from the fact that his old teammate and rival won out. “It’s good to see that the old guys are still up there.”