Tour of Turkey: Mark Cavendish wins stage 3

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Mark Cavendish (Deceuninck-QuickStep) won his second consecutive sprint victory on the longest stage of the Tour of Turkey to Alanya, coming off the wheels in the final 100 metres to beat Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Fenix) and Polish national champion Stanisław Aniołkowski (Bingoal Pauwels Sauces).

Israel Start-Up Nation worked hard to lead out André Greipel in the final kilometres but when the German jumped, Cavendish kicked too, avoided a fight for position and then used his rediscovered finishing speed to win with both arms in the air.

Thanks to the time bonus for his second stage victory, Cavendish extended his overall race lead to eight seconds ahead of Philipsen.

Cavendish had not won since 2018 before taking Monday’s stage. Now he has back-to-back wins and renewed confidence in his sprinting.  

“My confidence is still coming back. I had more confidence today, I knew I could do it more,” Cavendish said after his win.

“I don’t think I have as much confidence and I used to have but it gives me confidence in myself more than any kind of swagger.” 

Cavendish thanked his teammates for protecting him during the stage and the difficult to interpret sprint.

“We tried to take it on from the front today and it worked,” he said of his decision to kick early and to avoid the other riders.

Wednesday’s 184.km fourth stage is back along the coast from Alanya to Kemer, offering another chance to the sprinters. It could be for Cavendish or for a teammate.

“It’d be nice to get more stage wins for the team. We don’t have anyone for the GC, we have a collection of sprinters,” Cavendish said.

How it unfolded

The 212.6km stage from Beyşehir to Alanya on the coast was the longest of this year’s Tour of Turkey and took the race from the cold of inland Turkey to the spring warmth of the Mediterranean coast.

There were several attacks from the start, with one including French veteran Pierre Rolland (B&B Hotels). However, they were pulled back after 40km, in time for Garikoitz Bravo (Euskaltel) to win the intermediate sprint.

The break of the day formed on the climb up to 1524m before the dive down towards the coast. Nicola Venchiarutti (Androni Giocattoli), Iker Ballarin (Euskaltel-Euskadi), Umberto Poli (Team Novo Nordisk) and Mexican national champion Ulises Alfredo Castillo (Wildlife Generation Pro Cycling) were given their freedom to enjoy a day out front.

They opened a gap of two minutes on the wide highways, with Venchiarutti taking both of the mountain sprints to move up to second in the classification behind Vitaliy Buts (Salcano Sakarya).

On the long descent towards the coast and then east towards Alanya the peloton and the break played cat and mouse, with the peloton finally reeling them in with 15km to go.

The sprint teams took over with Deceuninck-QuickStep, Israel Start-up Nation and Uno-X all increasing the pace on the wide and straight coastal road as tourists enjoyed the spring sun and 20°C temperatures.

Israel Start-Up Nation lined out the peloton with four kilometres to go and lead through a chicane onto the road into Alanya. They had four riders ahead of Greipel and seemed in charge of the sprint as others fought for their wheels. 

Cavendish sat tight on Hodeg’s wheel while Alpecin-Fenix were more exposed to the wind and out of position as they tried to set up Philipsen. In the final kilometre, the Uno-X team moved up along the barriers for Kristoffer Halvorsen but they became trapped and out of position.

Israel Start-Up Nation lead out the sprint but when Greipel kicked with 150m metres to go, Cavendish went too, instinctively avoiding his lead-out man as he drifted back and accelerating on the other side of the road tucked low over his bike.

Philipsen tried a more protected route through the middle but was slowed by the Israel Start-Up Nation lead out and clashed with other riders.

Cavendish was simply faster and out front, and he had to time celebrate his second consecutive victory.