Guardini doubles up in Manangat

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Already a winner of multiple bunch sprints this year, Italian Andrea Guardini (Farnese Vini - Neri Sottoli) stepped up in Manavgat as he won his second stage at the Presidential Tour of Turkey. His status as a sprinter continued to grow as he beat the likes of Kenny van Hummel (Skil-Shimano), Tyler Farrar (Garmin-Cervelo), Andre Greipel (Omega Pharma-Lotto) and Alessandro Petacchi (Lampre-ISD), none of whom could blame crashes or mechanicals except for Farrar, who slipped a chain one gear at full speed.

"It looks good to beat Van Hummel, Farrar, Greipel and Petacchi!" a smiling Guardini said. "It was a difficult race to win today because there were so many sprinters with their trains. They all knew it was the second to last occasion to win a stage.

"Each of the last three sprints I've won has been nicer than the previous one: in Qatar, in Istanbul and here. I'm myself impressed by what I'm achieving. I didn't think that I'd be beating those big names after four months as a professional rider!"

It was a typical stage for sprinters. After 34 kilometres of racing, four riders went clear: Yohan Bagot (Cofidis), Andrea Pasqualon (Colnago), Rob Goris (Willems) and Alexander Ryabkin (Caja Rural). They never had a real chance of racing for the stage win, as their advantage over the bunch maxed out at only two minutes. They were caught, not surprisingly, after the sprint prime of Aspendos with 34.5km to go until the finish line in Manavgat.

Sep Vanmarcke (Garmin), Paolo Locatelli (Colnago) and Kirilov Tchanliev (Konya) also tried their luck in the final 25 kilometres, but Lampre-ISD was motivated to deliver Alessandro Petacchi to the finish with a bunch sprint and put an end to the hopes of the attackers.

The trio got caught with 11km to go. At the entrance of Manavgat, Danish team Saxo Bank-SunGard tried to set up for Lucas Sebastian Haedo, but Petacchi promptly realized that it was the best train to follow toward the end. "I've ridden for so many years with Matteo Tosatto, I knew I had to be behind his wheel and the one of Haedo," said green jersey wearer Petacchi to Cyclingnews.

Petacchi did everything right, but Guardini was positioned 10th by his teammates Elia Favilli and Takashi Miyazawa at the exit of the last curve. "I opened my sprint a little bit too early," Petacchi said.

"When Petacchi started sprinting on the right side, I had to do it from the left," said the Dutchman Van Hummel, who was watching the moves of the Italian closely. "I did everything right, but Guardini beat me and I couldn't do anything against him. He's so strong and so fast."

Guardini was happy to find a hole and jump to the finishing line in a superb effort.

Race leader Efimkin said, "This is the first day I'm not tired at the end of a stage of the Tour of Turkey! I've been escorted well by my teammates, who stayed around me all day and kept the race under control."

"It was a perfect scenario for keeping the turquoise (leader's) jersey because the teams of the sprinters were so motivated for a bunch gallop at the end. I don't know about tomorrow but I'm delighted to be the leader of this race today. It's such a great feeling. Let's enjoy the moment now and hopefully everything will go well."

The eighth and last stage of the 47th Presidential Tour of Turkey will go from the historical site of Side to the usual finishing town of Alanya. It wouldn't be a surprise for the final stage to end in another bunch sprint with Efimkin hanging in to take the overall lead.

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