No time for those at the back of the line-out to take in the scenery today
Philip Deignan has had a difficult day on the toughest stage of the Presidential Tour of Turkey today, Tuesday.
The Unitedhealthcare Irish rider was 24th of the 187 finishers, losing 4:58 to winner and new GC leader Bulgarian Ivaïlo Gabrovski (Konya Torku Seker Spor).
With 152km to race today on the road from Antalya to Elmali, the field faced a very hard day in the mountains.
The riders had a second category climb to face after just 9.2km, followed by the summit of a first category ascent crested after 76km and the long first category climb up to the finish.
Gabrovski rocketed up the final climb – the first mountain top finish in the race’s history – to take victory for his Turkish Continental team by 1:29 from Alexandr Dyachenko, the Kazak riding for Astana.
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While many expected Deignan to challenge for stage honours today, his ride fell well short of that. However, the field was well strung out on a day when the steep climbs meant those clutch of riders last home lost more than 45 minutes.
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Deignan is now 23rd on GC, 5:08 down. There are still some climbs on the route ahead before the race finishes in five days, though today’s stage presented the best opportunity for a specialist climber like Deignan to come to the fore.
The race finishes in Istanbul on Sunday.
Stage 3 Result
1 Ivaïlo Gabrovski (Bul) Konya Torku Seker Spor 4:21:09
2 Alexandr Dyachenko (Kaz) Astana Pro Team 0:01:29
3 Danail Andonov Petrov (Bul) Caja Rural 0:01:32
4 Adrian Palomares Villaplana (Spa) Andalucia 0:01:34
5 Romain Bardet (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:01:51
6 Alexander Efimkin (Rus) Team Type 1 - Sanofi 0:02:13
7 Florian Guillou (Fra) Bretagne - Schuller 0:02:19
8 Enrico Battaglin (Ita) Colnago - CSF Inox 0:02:38
9 Michal Golas (Pol) Omega Pharma-Quickstep 0:02:52
10 William Routley (Can) Spidertech Powered By C10 0:02:55
11 Sylvain Georges (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:02:57
12 Johan Esteban Chaves Rubio (Col) Colombia - Coldeportes 0:03:02
13 Adam Hansen (Aus) Lotto Belisol Team 0:03:11
14 Andre Cardoso S. Martins (Por) Caja Rural 0:03:13
15 Vladimir Gusev (Rus) Katusha Team 0:03:36
24 Philip Deignan (Irl) UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling Team 0:04:58
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