Cavendish wins first stage in Tour of Turkey

ANTALYA

On April 26, British cyclist Mark Cavendish enjoyed the perfect start to the 2015 Presidential Cycling Tour of Turkey (TUR) before being awarded for his opening stage victory with bananas – lots of bananas. AA photos

Britain’s Mark Cavendish of Etixx-QuickStep had a perfect start to the 2015 Presidential Cycling Tour of Turkey (TUR), claiming the victory in the opening stage on April 26.

Cavendish won the bunch sprint after a perfect lead-out from the Etixx squad at the end of the 145-kilometer stage looping around Alanya in the Mediterranean province of Antalya. Australian prodigy Caleb Ewan of Orica-GreenEdge placed second, with Italian Nicola Ruffoni of Bardiani-CSF in third.

Cavendish’s win means that he wears the turquoise leader’s jersey going into April 27’s second stage (Alanya - Antalya) covering 182 kilometers. He rode his first TUR last year to great success, winning stages one (Alanya-Alanya), two (Alanya - Kemer), four (Fethiye - Marmaris) and eight (Istanbul - Istanbul), as well as the Green Jersey of the points classification.

Cavendish has won 25 Tour de France stages, placing him third on the all-time winners list of the world’s most famous cycling race. He also plans to represent the Isle of Man in this year’s Commonwealth Games in Scotland.


A total of 165 riders in 21 teams from across the world are competing over eight stages in the TUR, finishing in Istanbul on May 3.

Last year’s race was won by British cyclist Adam Yates, one of the Orica GreenEDGE riders.

First organized in 1965 as the Marmara Cycling Tour, the Turkish tour has emerged as a showcase for Turkey’s natural beauty and has been broadcast live by domestic and foreign TV channels since 2009.