Natnael Berhane (Europcar) was able to maintain his hold on the overall leader's jersey at the Tour of Turkey after a hilly and testing 5th stage today.

Due to the difficulty of the stage Berhane found himself more or less deprived of teammates as several of the contenders for overall victory at the Turkish stage race tried to test the strength of the man at the top of the general classification. Essentially, though, Berhane enjoyed the company of a sole teammate, Thurau, and was able to confirm his lead of the race.

"It was a very hard stage," the Europcar rider stated afterwards. "From the start, many riders attacked to start a break. As only one of my team-mates, Bjorn [Thurau], was able to stay with me, he was forced to work all day and that's what helped me keep the jersey. In the finale, several GC riders, Cameron Meyer (Orica-GreenEDGE) and Kevin Seeldraeyers (Astana) attacked me but I was able to stay with them. I don't know what can happen tomorrow. Each day is different. In some stages we start with a climb, in others we finish with a climb. If I can keep team-mates with me to help me in the last climb, I might keep the jersey."