Tour of Turkey: Van den Broek secures overall win as final stage is neutralised

The Tour of Turkey drew to a close on Sunday with a fully neutralised final stage in Istanbul after race organisers announced a curtailment of the route.

The announcement came through early in the morning of the closing stage 8, with organisers stating "Due to the slippery condition of the roads, it's been decided that stage 8 will be neutralised.

"The peloton will ride the planned route but only one lap instead of 5 and will proceed to Sultanahmet with the distinctive jersey holders at the front of the peloton."

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As a result, the peloton tackled a rainy ride on wet roads in Istanbul, rolling over the final fourth-category hill of the race and across the line without any contest.

The neutralisation, which saw three laps of the closing circuit taken out as well as the final 20km, meant that there would be no final chance for the sprinters to grab a win on the tricky 5%, 600-metre closing ramp.

It also meant that yellow jersey Frank van den Broek (DSM-Firmenich PostNL) could finish his race without any threat of attack from podium sitters Merhawi Kudus (Terengganu) and Paul Double (Polti-Kometa).

23-year-old Van den Broek now comes away from the Tour of Turkey with his first career stage race victory under his belt after triumphing on the queen stage summit finish at Manisa on Friday. He beats Kudus by four seconds in the overall standings while Double takes third overall, nine seconds down.

Elsewhere, Van den Broek's DSM teammate Tobias Lund Andresen completes a near-perfect week for the team, himself having won three stages to go with Van den Broek's triumph and Fabio Jakobsen's opening stage victory.

Andresen comes away with the points jersey, having overhauled Giovanni Lonardi (Polti-Kometa) with his third stage win on Saturday. Vinzent Dorn (Bike Aid) wins the mountain classification, while Q36.5 come away with the team prize.

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