Ireland's Cormac Mcgeough enjoyed an eventual day on the queen stage of the Tour of Turkey when he rode in the breakaway that gained a gap of four minutes at one point.
Mcgeough, a 24-year-old riding for US Continental team Wildlife Generation Pro Cycling, had been active off the front on several stages already in Turkey but on yesterday's hill terrain his efforts stuck and he spent the day in the escape that animated much of the racing.
The 160.3km stage from Kemer to Elmalı-Göğübeli featured an early cat 3 climb followed by a 17km cat 1 just after the halfway point with the final cat 1 summit climb of Göğübeli - which was 12.1km at 8.3 per cent and offered a stern test at the end of proceedings.
The other Irish rider in the field, Jesse Ewart (Team
Sapura Cycling), had a different kind
of day; staying with the strongest riders on the summit finish for a long time
before giving up some time in the last few kilometres.
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But before that final showdown on the big climbing finish, Mcgeough’s breakaway got clear of the peloton before the first climb of the day.
As well as the young Irishman, it also contained: Mirko
Maestri (Bardiani-CSF Faizanè), Nils Sinschek (Abloc), Mathias Brandle (Israel
Start-Up Nation), Vitaliy Buts (Salcaro Sakarya), Ziga Jerman (Androni
Giocattoli-Sidermec) and Joel Suter (Bingoal-Pauwels Sauzen-Wallonie Bruxelles).
The break worked well and tackled the two first climbs
solidly, with the peloton content to let the escapees gain a manageable gap,
safe in the knowledge the final climb would sort out the stage honours and
general classification.
While Mark Cavendish (Deceuninck-QuickStep) had won the previous three stages and held the race lead starting out yesterday, he was never going to be in contention on the climbs. It meant the race lead and a big down payment on the final overall victory were both in play yesterday.
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While Mcgeough’s breakaway gained over
four minutes, by the time the final climb began that had been reduced to just
under two minutes.
And when the road kicked up that gap
tumbled further; the front group fracturing and eventually all being mopped up,
though Suter attacked the escape group and was only caught with about 3.5km to
go.
By that point in the race, the peloton
had also split to pieces on the climb and a select group of about 15 riders had
formed at the head of affairs.
Anders Halland Johannessen (Uno-X Pro Cycling Team) was
the first to let rip with an attack from that select group in the closing
stages, which split under pressure from his efforts.
However, Jose Manuel Diaz Gallego (Delko), Jay Vine Alpecin-Fenix)
and Eduardo Sepulveda (Androni Giocattoli-Sidermec) took up the challenge and
got across to him. And it was those three who fought out the final sprint at
the top of the climb; Diaz Gallego winning from Vine and Sepulveda.
Mcgeough rode up the final climb after his earlier breakaway efforts and eventually finished in 77th at 10:34 on a day when the stage winner also took the race lead with three stages remaining.
Fellow Irish rider Jesse Ewart (Team Sapura Cycling) finished closer to the front of the action; the Australian-born Irish rider remaining with the select group for a long time before slipping back as the finish line neared. He eventually finished in 32nd place at 3:13.
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