Sam Bennett sprints to Stage 1 win in Turkey

Sam Bennett’s stellar start to the year continued unabated at the Tour of Turkey, with the Bora–Hansgrohe’s rider sprinting to Stage 1 victory in Tekirdag.

Eurosport

Image credit: TNT Sports

Bennett, a double stage winner at Paris-Nice this year, latched on to the train of Deceuninck–Quick-Step before powering away from Fabio Jakobsen to take a fifth stage win of the year, with Caleb Ewan (Lotto - Soudal) making up the podium.

The 156.7km ride from Istanbul to Tekirdag was always destined for a bunch sprint finish, and when a six-man break consisting of Alvaro Robredo (Burgos-BH), Lucas De Rossi (Delko Marseille Provence), Lorenzo Fortunato (Neri Sottoli-Selle Italia-KTM), Emerson Oronte (Rally UHC Cycling) Lindsay De Vylder (Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise), and Ferit Samli (Turkey) was reeled in with 22km to go, the jostling for position ahead of the finish began in earnest.

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Astana, Dimension Data and Deceuninck – Quick-Step all had turns on the front following the decent of the second category climb of the day but it was Bennett who made the decisive move to claim another win in Turkey - his eighth in the last three years.

Position	Rider	Team	Time
1	Sam Bennett (IRL)	BORA - hansgrohe	3:32:34
2	Fabio Jakobsen (NED)	Deceuninck - Quick-Step	"
3	Caleb Ewan (AUS)	Lotto - Soudal	"
4	Eduard Michael Grosu (ROU)	Delko Marseille Provence	"
5	Simone Consonni (ITA)	UAE Team Emirates	"
6	Luca Pacioni (ITA)	Neri Sottoli-Selle Italia-KTM	"
7	Imerio Cima (ITA)	Nippo-Vini Fantini-Faizanè	"
8	Giovanni Lonardi (ITA)	Nippo-Vini Fantini-Faizanè	"
9	Christophe Noppe (BEL)	Sport Vlaanderen - Baloise	"
10	Álvaro Hodeg (COL)	Deceuninck - Quick-Step	"

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