Clad in the leader's jersey Marcel Kittel (Argos-Shimano) was one of the unlucky to go down in today's mass pile-up in the second stage of the Tour of Turkey. As the German is in blistering condition, his team was very unhappy to see both the jersey and a possible stage win disappear due to his bad luck.

Marcel Kittel crushed the opposition in dominant fashion in yesterday's opening stage of the Tour of Turkey and with another bunch sprint on the cards for today's second stage, the German had a great chance to make it to in a row and defend his leader's jersey in the best possible way. His team did all the preparatory work with Cheng Ji and Thomas Damuseau chasing down the day's early break before the lead-out train delivered the big German perfectly in the wheel of Theo Bos whose Blanco team was in complete control of the peloton.

However, the position proved to be a bad choice as Mark Renshaw touched the rear wheel of teammate Graeme Brown which forced the Austrlian, Bos, Kittel and plenty of others to hit the ground. Only around 15 riders escaped the mayhem and had to battle it out for the stage win and as Andre Greipel took a 3rd place he took over Kittel's lead due to his lower sum of stage placings.

Kittel had arrived in Turkey after a long training camp in which the team had practiced their sprint lead-out and after having struggled earlier in the season due to illness he is now in very good shape. Hence, sports manager Marc Reef was very unhappy to see a perfect opportunity for victory disappear.

 “It’s a shame that Marcel lost his leader’s jersey because of a crash," he said. "He is in such good shape and today he could definitely have gone for another stage win."

Kittel was not the only one from the team to hit the deck as lead-out rider Bert De Backer and the team's GC rider Warren Barguil were also involved in the crash. The further participation of all three riders is still uncertain.

"From our team, Marcel, Bert De Backer and Warren Barguil crashed, and they have some bruises and contusions," Reef said. "We’ll see how it goes tonight and decide tomorrow morning whether they can start.”

For Barguil the crash comes at the worst possible time as the race's crucial queen stage to the top of the Elmali climb is on the menu for tomorrow. He hopes to have recovered enough to be able to fight it out with the best on the steep slopes.

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