The New Zealander Patrick Bevin (Israel Premier Tech) became the new leader of the Tour of Turkey this Saturday to the detriment of the Argentine Eduardo Sepúlvedaby winning the seventh and penultimate stage as part of a trio with his compatriot Jay Vine and the Frenchman Nicolas Edet, who came next, 2 and 4 seconds away, respectively.
Sepúlveda entered the chasing group of the escapees, 41 seconds behind the winner, and is now third overall, 40 seconds behind Bevin and 20 seconds behind Vine, second classified.
It was the second professional victory for Bevin, who had only won one stage at the Santos Tour Down Under. (Australia) in 2019, more than three years ago.
The seventh stage featured a 131.3km course between Gelibolu and Tekirdag. With only two second category climbs, the second 20 kilometers from the finish line, the day did not seem dangerous for the leader, Sepúlveda, well supported by his team (Drone Hopper-Androni Giocattoli) to defend his 11-second advantage over Bevin, but the aggressiveness of the leader of Israel-Premier Tech ranks paid off well.
The New Zealander’s attack at the foot of the last port left the Argentine cut offlagging behind in a group of twenty that was losing time, second by second, with respect to the trio of escapees.
Four runners had started the breakaway of the day at km 15: the Canadian Nickolas Zukowsky (Human Health), the Norwegian Syver Waersted (Uno-X), the Turkish Feritcam Samli (Spor Toto) and the Belgian Abram Stockman (Saris Rouby). They were all sucked into the platoon on foot at the last pass, when Bevin attacked, taking Jay Vine and Nicolas Edet with him.
The leading trio had a 35-second advantage over the leader’s group with 25 km to go and despite the efforts of the Androni team and Sepúlveda himself, the Argentine was unable to save the leader’s jersey, with only one day remaining.
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In the fight for the stage, Edet jumped out at the last kilometer banner, but could not surprise her teammates. The decisive move was executed by Bevin, who won the partial victory and the lead. Vine and Edet crossed the finish line next.
The 57th edition of the Tour of Turkey will conclude this Sunday with a 137.8 km stage starting and finishing in Istanbul. The first half will run through the Gotzepe circuit and from there to the finish line a single third category mountain pass, 20 kilometers from the end.
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