Tour of Turkey: Tobias Lund Andresen wins stage 5 to retain overall lead

Tobias Lund Andresen (DSM-Firmenich-PostNL) took back-to-back wins at the Tour of Turkey after navigating the technical finale on stage 5 and powering to the line ahead of teammate Fabio Jakobsen.

The Dane timed his sprint perfectly, only hitting the front in the final 50 metres after the narrow, winding finish left the leadout trains fractured heading into Kuşadası.

Jakobsen was able to sit up and celebrate his teammate's win as they crossed the line for a great 1-2 finish ahead of Iúri Leitão (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA). It’s the Dutch team’s third win of the week and Lund Andresen’s second at professional level after his maiden victory yesterday.

Andresen also extended his lead at the head of the GC with more bonus seconds gained on the line. He takes a 14-second lead over Giovanni Lonardi (Polti-Kometa) heading into tomorrow’s summit finish stage from Kuşadası to Manisa where the overall standings will be completely changed and the climbers will take over.

“It’s unbelievable man. We were going for Fabio but he told me with 2km to go that I should just go with my own sprint,” a delighted Andresen said post-race. 

“I had to open up early and it came so much as a shock that I almost forgot to celebrate. Then it's just incredible, I go over the finish line and I see Fabio come around me for second place.

“The whole team did amazing and we did amazing as planned. It just shows a new class to this team how we rode today.”

The fifth day of racing in Turkey saw a seven-man break again go up the road with 156km to go, Antonio Polga (Novo Nordisk), Mauro Verwilt (Tarteletto-Isorex), Oliver Mattheis (BIKE AID), Jacob Scott (REMBE Pro Cycling Team Sauerland), Genki Yamamoto (Kinan Racing), Michał Pomorski and Konrad Czabok (Mazowsze Serce Polski).

A more simple chase ensued for the peloton than on the previous stages with Bora-Hansgrohe and Astana Qazaqstan taking up most of the mantle along the 177.9km route from Bodrum to Kuşadası.

While the gap gradually came down throughout the mainly flat route, the break attacked itself over one of the final uncategorised climbs as riders tried to be the last men standing from the early move, but without much success. 

Mattheis was the most active and last to be dragged back with 5km to go. Polti-Kometa put on the pace on each and every rise to try and dull the legs of pure sprinters Welsford, Cavendish and Jakobsen and give stage 3 winner Giovanni Lonardi the best chance. 

A late attack was launched curiously by Danny van Poppel for Bora-Hansgrohe as they entered the very technical finishing sector where twists and turns strung out the peloton. But he was quickly pegged back by Bram Welten (DSM-Firmenich PostNL).

Andresen was originally on Welten’s wheel as he chased down the Dutchman but dropped himself back into the bunch to ensure he didn’t sprint too early. He stayed in the wheels until Rory Townsend (Q36.5) and Martijn Budding (TDT-Unibet) hit out for the line before he opened up behind. 

With shoulders barging and the road narrowing at the front, the Dane stayed patient and eventually found a lane to sprint before speeding past a tiring Van Poppel and Budding with Jakobsen in his wheel.

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