Tour of Turkey 2021 – Stage 3 preview
By David Hunter
Beysehir > Alanya 213km
The longest stage of the race.
The early part of the day takes place at a relatively high altitude, the bunch reach 1525m above sea level early in the day, before a finish beside the sea. We have a cat 2 climb cresting with 100km to go, I wonder if anyone will try to race it.
6.5km at 7.5%, but I would take this with a pinch of salt. Elevation data is fairly poor in this part of the world, I think the climb is a little easier than the initial numbers suggest, especially as the organisers make it just a cat 2. As it comes with so much of the race left to go I would be amazed to see teams race the climb, it should be taken at an easy tempo ensuring all the fast men survive. After the climb is done we should see the world tour teams coming to the front to ensure we get another sprint finish.
Weather
Nice and sunny. It will be cold when the riders are up in the mountains, but lovely and warm at the finish.
Finale
At 3.4km to go the bunch take this right turn. It is relatively narrow at this point, so the big teams will want to be at the front.
With 2km remaining the bunch will be flying, but they have to move onto the road on the right. I would expect barriers to be placed so the road narrows down to one lane at this point. This narrowing obviously means it’s important to have a good position.
The final 1.7km takes place on cobbles. They are the type you find in many towns all over the world, not those used in Paris-Roubaix. This is a finish I remember from previous editions of the race; Cav has won here twice and Modolo has also tasted success here too. The finish can get a bit chaotic.
Contenders
Deceuninck – Quick Step – what a win by Cav today, that was something special. With that win I start to wonder if they’ll ride for Hodeg in this stage. As I said in a previous preview, both riders will be at this race hoping for a win, I think it would be nice if the team now see if their Colombian can also re-find winning ways. Winning another stage certainly won’t be easy, they’ll likely only have a couple of riders left in the closing stages, but that was enough today. Both Cavendish and Hodeg have a good chance of winning this stage, especially with Cav’s previous experience here.
Jasper Philipsen – when he launched with 200 to go it looked like he had it. His sprint train did a brilliant job, they arrived at the perfect time to control the final kilometre. There is no shame in losing today, he was simply beaten by a faster man. This stage is another opportunity for Philipsen to show what he can do. If Alpecin-Fenix deliver another perfect lead out, I think he’ll win.
Andre Greipel – he was close today, but just lacked that little kick required to pass Philipsen. ISUN have an excellent sprint train at this race, but they’ve yet to control the final kilometre. If Greipel is going to win he needs to launch from the front, it’s up to his team to put him there.
Pierre Barbier – got a little lost today in the fight to get on Cav’s wheel, but he’ll be back in this stage and hunting out his first pro win.
Prediction Time
I don’t think we’ll see anyone make moves on the cat 2 climb, it’s a long way from home. We’ll get another sprint and I’ll take a win for Jasper Philipsen.
David Hunter
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