Victor Langellotti (Burgos-BH) snatched victory on stage 6 of the Tour of Turkey, attacking out of the group of favourites in the final 400 metres and catching Giulio Pellizzari (Green Project-Bardiani CSF-Faizanè) before sprinting to the win.
Langellotti was too strong on the final push to the line up the climb to Meryem Ana Zirve (Mother Mary's House), holding off race leader Alexey Lutsenko (Astana Qazaqstan) for his second-ever professional victory.
Lutsenko was not worried on the final ascent, first allowing Domen Novak (UAE Team Emirates), and then Pellizzari, to escape up the road as neither posed a threat to his gap on GC. Instead, he opted to mark any moves made by Bora-Hansgrohe through Ben Zwiehoff, who sat second overall before the start.
The Kazakh rider extended his overall lead over Zwiehoff with the bonus seconds and four-second gap gained on the line, pushing his gap to a 26-second advantage with two stages remaining.
“I knew that the finish suited me pretty well, so I knew I had a chance but you never know that you're going to win,” said Langellotti. “I was in good shape so I was hoping for a win here.
“I knew that I had to wait until the end because there was some [head] wind in the finish so I went until 200 metres to launch my attack and in the end, it was a good choice so I’m super happy and grateful for all the team and the staff.”
The Monagasque rider was delighted with his victory, currently without a contract for the coming season, but a win like this always helps.
“It means a lot, I have been through a few bad moments this season,” Langellotti said. “It’s a huge boost of confidence.”
Much of the 193.3km route starting in Bodrum and finishing in Selçuk was on flatter roads ahead of the category 2 and category 1 climbs that would decide the day in the final 25km, allowing a 12-rider break to get up the road and build an advantage over the four-minute mark.
The riders in the break included Pavel Novák (Q36.5), Antonia Angulo (Burgos-BH), Alexander Konychev (Corratec-Selle Italia) and Turkish Champion Burak Abay (Konya Buyuksehir Belediye Spor).
As the break hit the bottom of Mountain Prime (4km at 8.6%), their advantage had started to slowly decrease under the tempo being set by Astana Qazaqstan in the peloton behind.
There was a nasty crash behind as the peloton navigated the treacherous descent off the climb, with Ryan Gibbons (UAE Team Emirates) hitting a road barrier and pointing into a ditch where another rider had fallen. Doğukan Arikan (Spor Toto) then came bounding into the stationary motorcycle waiting by Gibbons and the other rider who crashed, adding to the carnage.
More crashes followed as Turkish Champion Abay and Konychev also came down towards the end of the dusty descent, but thankfully they were able to remount into a chasing group with their wounds exposed but bodies intact.
Everything came back together at the head of the race with the final climb awaiting those who had survived the first climb, with Novek the first to attack. He was quickly chased and passed by Pellizzari but both ran out of steam.
Langellotti attacked the left-hand side of the road as Lutsenko continued to mark Zwiehoff, able to maintain his effort all the way to the line and fend off the closing race leader behind him. He let out a roar in celebration in the cool-down area post-race, clearly elated with his second career victory.
Lutsenko all but wrapped up the overall victory in Turkey by extending his lead on Zwiehoff with another climbing day tomorrow being dampened by a downhill run to the line and the final stage on Sunday into Istanbul being raced on mainly flat roads.
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