Tour of Turkey: Mark Cavendish wins stage 4 after huge crash in sprint finish

Image 1 of 10

Mark Cavendish (Deceuninck-QuickStep) made it three wins in a row at the Tour of Turkey, sprinting to victory on stage 4 in Kemer. The Manxman once again beat Alpecin-Fenix sprinter Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Fenix) into second place, zipping past the Dutchman in the final 50 metres to extend his race lead after what was a chaotic, slightly uphill, finish.

Stanisław Aniołkowski (Bingoal-Pauwels Sauces-Wallonie Bruxelles) rounded out the podium with a late charge ahead of Arvid de Kleijn (Rally Cycling), while the dash to the line was marred by a massive crash on both sides of the road at 200 metres to go, just behind the top sprinters.

Alpecin-Fenix had taken charge in the closing kilometre, but left Philipsen in the headwind too early at 275 metres to go. He checked his sprint to look behind, while Cavendish enjoyed a precious few moments more lying in third wheel, riding the slipstream of B&B Hotels p/b KTM rider Luca Mozzato.

Cavendish launched at 210 metres to go, closing the bike length gap to Philipsen over the next 100 metres, and the powering past in the final metres to clinch victory number three at the race.

"It's nice," Cavendish said after the stage. "It's irrelevant how many wins are in a row, it's just nice to win again. It's nice that the team believe in me.

"The most special thing about today is to see how far into the stage Fabio [Jakobsen] got. I know that's not nice for him to see the crash in the final. After the finish he was a bit shook up, but seeing him in and about in the sprint, really close, the pride inside me, I knew I had to finish it off."

He added that he had planned to follow Philipsen's wheel in the finish, but was forced to improvise after ending up behind Mozzato.

"He's really good at positioning but he's not very strong so I know when he's there, he's going to lose it, you know?," Cavendish said of Mozzato. "He ended up in front of me and I knew that would be difficult because I knew he wouldn't be able to go when Philipsen goes.

"So, I waited and got ready to anticipate the jump as quickly as possible so I could close Philipsen as quickly as possible. It was a long old sprint for us today. It was a drag strip. Headwind finish, slightly uphill. It was more of a grind than a speed sprint, I guess."

After another win, Cavendish extends his advantage in the leader's turquoise jersey to 12 seconds over Philipsen, with De Kleijn following in third at 20 seconds and the bulk of the peloton lying 30 seconds down.

How it unfolded

Stage 4 of the Tour of Turkey took the riders from Alanya along the Mediterranean coast to the resort town of Kemer. A 184.4-kilometre run to the west would bring little in the way of difficulties for the peloton or breakaway, with only a third-category climb at 29 kilometres to go posing any real challenge on a flat day out.

After some battling early on, the break of the day established themselves after 20 kilometres of racing. Stanislau Bazkhou (Minsk Cycling Club), Kent Ross (Wildlife Generation), and Ivar Slik (ABLOC) got away from the peloton before the first intermediate sprint of the day. Slik led the way across the sprint point with 148 kilometres to go, but soon dropped back to the peloton, his job seemingly done. In his place, Muhammad Nur Aiman Bin Rosli (Sapura), moved up to join Bazkhou and Ross in what would end up being the final composition of the break.

On a largely flat stage, there was little for the break to battle over, and no real hope of contesting the finish among themselves. Their advantage was limited by the sprinters' teams, with Deceuninck-QuickStep and Alpecin-Fenix particularly prominent on the front. Rosli was the virtual GC leader at one point, though it wasn't a surprise given that 159 riders were within a minute of race leader Cavendish at the day's start.

The Malaysian was also keen to scoop up the awards during the stage. He led the way over the second intermediate sprint after 106 kilometres and also won out on the sole climb of the day, which was quite fiercely contested among the trio. By then, the break lay just 35 seconds up on the peloton, who were certain to make the catch before the finish for another sprint finale. Italian squads Bardiani-CSF-Faizanè and Eolo-Kometa were among the teams massed on the front of the peloton working towards that outcome.

The break was eventually brought back at 23 kilometres to go as light rain dampened the peloton, leaving the remainder of the race to the sprinters and their lead-outs. The Italian squads and Bingoal-Pauwels Sauces-Wallonie Bruxelles stayed in control through the 10-kilometre mark, at which point Deceuninck-QuickStep moved up. Rally, B&B Hotels p/b KTM and Burgos-BH were also present up front as the peloton raced towards the final kilometres, with WorldTour squads Deceuninck-QuickStep and Israel Start-Up Nation taking it up at the three-kilometre mark. 

B&B Hotels, ISN and Deceuninck-QuickStep led the way into the final kilometre with their competing lead-out trains, with Alpecin-Fenix adding men on the run to the line, too. The combined firepower of rival teams could do little to prevent Cavendish and Deceuninck-QuickStep coming out on top once again, though, with Philipsen being forced to launch a long sprint after being deposited on the front too early by his lead-out man.

Cavendish duly added to his win tally, sweeping past in the closing metres and condemning the 23-year-old to yet another second-place finish. His career may have looked in doubt at the end of last season but at this year's Tour of Turkey, Cavendish wins looks as inevitable as they were during his dominant prime.