Jaime Roson (Caja Rural) confirmed his status as one of the future Spanish top climbers by claiming an impressive neo-pro victory in the Tour of Turkey queen stage. Having made a solo move, he was joined by Przemyslaw Niemiec (Lampre-Merida) inside the final kilometre but he had enough left in the tank to beat the veteran in a 2-rider sprint on the famous Elmali climb. Jose Goncalves (Caja Rural) finished sixth and took the leader’s jersey after his teammate Pello Bilbao had fallen ill and lost more than 10 minutes.

 

For a number of years, it has been well-known in Spain that Jaime Roson is destined for greatness. Last year he won the Spanish U23 Championships and impressed the cycling world by climbing with the best at the USA Pro Challenge while riding as a stagiaire for Caja Rural.

 

The great performances allowed him to turn pro with the Spanish team and after a slow start, he has gradually found some form. After a solid Vuelta a Castilla y Leon, he entered the Tour of Turkey as one of the favourites but he was left frustrated as he dropped out of GC contention in the windy stage 3.

 

However, Roson was still determined to show himself and his big chance was always going to be the queen stage to Elmali whose tough final climb made it suited to his skills as a pure climber. Today he continued the Caja Rural dominance of the race by claiming an emphatic first professional win in a head-to-head battle with Przemyslaw Niemiec.

 

The stage was decided on the final 10km climb to the finish that is known for its very steep final 3km. As they hit the climb, Simone Petilli (Lampre-Merida), Daniele Colli (Nippo) and Dominik Hrinkow held a small 10-second advantage over the peloton which was led by the Parkhotel team. As soon as the road got steeper, Petilli attacked and he soloed clear while Hrinkow fell back to the peloton. Colli tried to stay away for a little longer but he was soon brought back too.

 

Parkhotel continued to send riders out the back door and easily responded when an Alpha Baltic rider made an attack. Meanwhile, Petilli pushed his advantage out to 20 seconds.

 

The big surprise came with 8km to go when race leader Pello Bilbao was dropped. The Spaniard fell ill yesterday and exploded completely, waving goodbye to his leader’s jersey.

 

While Bilbao lost ground, CCC moved to the front with Sylwester Szmyd who created a massive selection. Kristijan Durasek was among the riders to get distanced and there were now only around 20 rider left in the group

 

When Szmyd swung off, Petilli was almost caught and it was Ricardo Vilela who took over for Caja Rural. He didn’t respond when Ilya Koshevoy took off and he quickly made it across to his teammate Petilli. He had Jan Hirt (CCC) in tow but the pair failed to get clear and so it all came back together.

 

Vilela went back to work and whittled the peloton further down until the attacking started again with 5.5km to go. Mauro Finetto (Uniero) took off but he barely got a gap before Vilela had brought it back together.

 

Vilela set the pace as they tackled the final easier section and led the 20-rider group past the 3km to go mark. That’s where the road again got steeper and it was Hirt who tried the next move. He was marked by Adam Hansen (Lotto Soudal) and failed to get clear and so he instead started to ride on the front.

 

Hirt created a massive selection while Hansen had bad luck to drop his chain just as the pace was upped. Moments later, Koshevoy launched his second attack and this time he got an advantage together with Jaime Roson (Caja Rural) and Hirt.

 

The trio quickly got an advantage before Przmymyslaw Niemiec (Lampre-Merida) and Pawel Cieslik (Verva) took off. While the pair approached the leaders, Roson soloed clear and he was 10 seconds ahead when the two Poles caught Koshevoy and Hirt.

 

Niemiec recovered briefly and then attacked again just before he passed the flamme rouge. He seemed to be at ease as he approached the Spaniard from behind but then his progress stalled. However, he made it back to the leader with 500m to go. Further back, Koshevoy tried to attack but he was brought back.

 

As the tactical game started, the chasers approached from behind and this prompted Roson to make an attack. Niemiec briefly lost contact while he had to get onto the big ring but he quickly got back.

 

The pair rode side by side while the three chasers approached from behind but they ran out of metres. They could only watch when Niemiec launched his sprint and the Pole who had looked comfortable, seemed to be confident in his chances. However, Roson still had something left in the tank and he was apparently at ease as he passed the veteran to take his first pro win. Cieslik split the chase group and led Koshevoy and Hirt across the line.

 

In the finale, Jose Goncalves split the peloton to pieces and he crossed the line in 6th, 30 seconds behind his teammates, with Mauro Finetto taking seventh at 38 seconds. As Bilbao lost more than 10 minutes, the Portuguese takes the leader’s jersey with an 18-second advantage over David Arroyo (Caja Rural) while Nikita Stalnov (Astana City) is 46 seconds behind in third.

 

Goncalves faces another tricky test in tomorrow’s penultimate stage which is the traditional stage to Marmaris. After a relatively flat start, there’s a category 3 climb before more flat roads lead to the difficult finale. There are two uncategorized ascents inside the final 30km before the riders descend to the finish where a reduced bunch sprint has often taken place.

 

The queen stage

After two days for the sprinters, it was time for the queen stage which brought the riders over the short distance of just 116.9km from Kumluca to Elmali. After a short, flat section, the riders hit a big category 1 climb that led them to a flat plateau which led them to the bottom of the final ascent. It is known as the Turkish Alpe d’Huez and is famously known for its steep final part where the gap barely drops below the 10% mark in the final 3km.

 

As he had already announced yesterday, André Greipel (Lotto Soudal) was not in the peloton when they headed out for their mountainous ride under a sunny sky. Hence, he was not part of the fast action from the start. As is often the case in big mountain stages, it was very difficult to get clere, and there were many attacks in the early part. First a 4-rider group got clear and later a 15-rider group gathered but after 9km of racing, it was back together.

 

A big group gets clear

At the 14km mark, Eduard Grosu (Nippo) had built a small lead, and it was the foundation for the breakaway. Ilya Koshevoy (Lampre-Merida), Stig Broeckx (Lotto Soudal), Jose Goncalves (Caja Rural), Antonio Piedra (Funvic), Antonio Viola (Nippo), Nicolas Baldo (Roth), Galym Akhmetov (Astana City), Peter Schulting( Parkhotel), Nazim Bakirci (Konya) and Enrico Salvador (Uniero) made contact and they quickly built up a lead of 2 minutes. It was obviously a big, dangerous group for CCC, which won the stage with Davide Rebellin last year, and together with Caja Rural, they took control and quickly reduced the gap to 1.20.

 

The front group split, with Koshevoy, Broeckx, Baldo, Schulting and Bakirci got away, but even the quintet did not get much leeway. CCC still chased hard and quickly reduced the gap to just 55 seconds after 44km of racing. At the same time, the selection started as Alberto Cecchin (Roth) in the points jersey was one of the riders to get dropped.

 

A quintet is formed

Schulting took off in a solo move, winning today's Turkish Beauty Sprint ahead of Broeckx and Bakirci. Both made contact with the Dutchman again. Piedra and Baldo formed a chase duo 20 seconds behind the front trio as they went up the first climb. Here CCC reduced the pace slightly and let the gap grow to 1.25. Meanwhile, Piedra and later Baldo rejoined the leaders and so a quintet had again gathered as they approached the top.

 

Bakirci and Schulting sprinted for the points on the first climb and it was the Turkish rider that crossed the line first. Piedra was third, Broeckx fourth and Baldo fifth and the quintet soon started to work together again.

 

The chase gets organizd

In the peloton, a big alliance was formed as Uniero, Caja Rural and Astana City started to chase hard. With 55km to go, the gap was still only 1.30. They kept the gap relatively stable until a Southeast rider launched a surprise attack 10km later. However, he was closely marked by Astana City and Uniero and so he was easily brought back.

 

After his failed attack, the Southeast rider started to cooperate with Uniero, Caja Rural and Astana City and those four teams had reduced the gap to just 55 seconds as they entered the final 45km. Those three teams pressed on, with Domingos Goncalves taking some big turns for Caja Rural and so the escapees realized that it made no sense to press on. Broeckx and Schulting were the first to sit up and finally Piedra, Bakirci and Baldo also decided to sit up with 31km to go.

 

Sprint win for Belletti

Piedra was still dangling a few metres ahead when the attacking started again. Dominik Hrinkow (Hrinkow) took off immediately and he was quickly joined by Simone Petilli (Lampre-Merida).

 

The pair was allowed to build a small advantage but Uniero, Goncalves (Caja Rural) and Southeast controlled everything firmly. The gap went out to 25 seconds but as the peloton didn’t slow down, it was only 10 seconds as they approached the intermediate sprit. That allowed Manuel Belletti (Southeast) and Daniele Colli (Nippo) to sprint past the pair, with the Southeast rider winning the sprint ahead of the Nippo rider and Hrinkow.

 

A quartet gathers in the front

The sprinters again decided to sit up and this allowed Petilli and Hrinkow to push clear again. Liam Bertazzo (Southeast) and Colli used the confusion to attack and they made it across to the leaders when they entered the final 25km.

 

As Uniero and Goncalves were now the only ones setting the pace, the quartet had pushed out the gap to a minute with 20km to go. Here Parkhotel hit the front with the entire team and started to reel the escapees in.

 

CCC hit the front

Salvador (Uniero), Schulting, Bram Nolten (Parkhotel) and Goncalves started to work in the peloton and they had reduced the gap to 50 seconds as they entered the final 15km. Here Roth took over the pace-setting as the fight for position slowly intensified.

 

With 12km to go, CCC accelerated massively with Branislau Samoilau and so the gap melted away. When it was down to 10 seconds, Hrinkow tried an attack but it was only Bertazzo who was unable to follow. Moments later, they hit the climb where the real action started.