Caleb Ewan beats Jasper Philipsen in Turkey

Caleb Ewan beats Jasper Philipsen in Turkey

Sunday April 10 2022 at 12:58

Caleb Ewan won the first stage of the Tour of Turkey. The fast Australian from Lotto Soudal returned to racing today after a period of illness and was immediately successful in the race. Jasper Philipsen came in second. Ewan is of course also the number one leader on the multi-day bike tour.

The opening stage of the Turkey Tour was 207 kilometers long and spanned over an elevated track. Real hills had to be climbed in the final, even though the tough guys could survive. The two climbs, which were very difficult with 2.1 kilometers at 5.6% and 4.1 kilometers at 8.5%, were a good distance from the finish in Kusadasi. The last kilometers certainly weren’t billiards, but provided the quick men’s teams were well organised, the sprint was certainly not left out.

Six passengers get space
Today’s flight was formed quite early and consisted of six passengers. Belgium’s Abraham Stockmann, who co-starred in Germany’s continental squad Sarris Ruffy Sauerland, continued, joined by Julen Erezar (Auscatel Oscade), Jonathan Clarke (Wildlife Generation Pro Cycling), Hillel Duggan (Bike Aid), Vitaly Buts (Sakarya BB) Pro Team and Burak Abay ( Sport Toto cycling team. Leaving the peloton and the advance of the six attackers can be increased to three minutes. BikeExchange-Jayco, BORA-hansgrohe and Alpecin-Fenix ​​decided to join in the chase.

The peloton didn’t push hard, but several riders crashed. Henri Vandenabeele, Team DSM rating leader, was introduced to Turkish asphalt in an unpleasant way. However, the damage wasn’t too bad and the young Belgian quickly regained his place in the peloton. In the lead group, Buts did a good job of categorizing the mountains by appearing first on the first and last climb of the day. On the second climb, most of the mountain points went to Erizar again.

Sean Bennett is trying it alone
Meanwhile, the escaping bullets melted like snow in the Turkey sun. On the final climb toward the end, the Caja Rural-Seguros RGA had nefarious plans. The Spanish formation decided to increase the pace, hoping to slow down and throw the fastest runners into the sea. The Caja Rural-Seguros RGA’s fast men separated the wheat from the chaff, but most of the fast men managed to hook their wagon. With Ewan, Philipsen, and Bohani remaining in the first group, a (collective) race in the stars was written.

On the last climb descent, the peloton is stunned by another accident, with Jasper Philipsen being the most notorious victim. The Alpecin-Fenix ​​runner was left with torn pants and a few scrapes from his stumble, but was able to continue on his way back to the peloton. Ten miles off the road, Sean Bennett decided to try his luck. The 26-year-old American kicked off the humble China Glory Continental Cycling Team, who raced for EF Education and Qhubeka NextHash on his own and built a good gap.

Ewan wins on his return
Bennett’s advance took more than half a minute with ten kilometers left to travel, but it turned out that it wasn’t enough to stay out of Peloton’s grasp. After swallowing Bennett, the sprinters’ teams tried to put their trains on the rails as best they could. Lotto Soudal managed to keep fast star Caleb Ewan out of trouble and the Australian completed the work of his teammates with dynamism, ahead of Philipsen. For Ewan, this victory in Turkey is a huge boost after a period of illness, forcing him to pass to Milan-San Remo and some of the Belgian spring races.