Italian sprinter wins penultimate stage of Presidential Tour of Turkey
First year professional Andrea Guardini continued his superb debut season when he clocked up his second stage victory in this year’s Presidential Tour of Turkey.
The 21 year old Italian hit the line first in Manavgat, beating Kenny Van Hummel (Skil-Shimano), Tyler Farrar (Garmin-Cervelo), Andre Greipel (Omega Pharma-Lotto) and Alessandro Petacchi (Lampre-ISD) at the end the 135 kilometre stage.
It followed on from his win on day one of the race, and marked his eighth victory of the season. He has a chance to add another when the Turkish race ends tomorrow with a 157.8 kilometre stage to Alanya.
Guardini has been a revelation this season, winning five out of the ten stages in the Tour de Langkawi, then snagging the final stage of the Tour of Qatar. His two victories in Turkey have moved him closer to the debut season record of eleven set by the Briton Mark Cavendish.
“It looks good to beat Van Hummel, Farrar, Greipel and Petacchi,” he said afterwards. “It was a difficult race to win today because of so many trains and so many sprinters who knew it was the second-last occasion for winning a stage. I fought to be well positioned in the last curve. Thanks to the help of Takashi Miyazawa who took over from Elia Favilli, I came out of this curve in tenth position and I found the gap to pass Van Hummel with less than 100 metres to go.
“Each of the last three sprints I’ve won has been nicer than the previous one: in Qatar, in Istanbul and here. I’m myself impressed by what I’m achieving.”
Guardini is arguably the most impressive young sprinter to emerge since Cavendish, and appears destined to fight it out with the Manxman and others in the years to come.
Russian rider Alexander Efimkin (Team Type 1) continues to lead overall, and is now just one day from taking what would be a massive victory for his Team Type 1 squad. He is one minute 13 seconds clear of Andrey Zeits (Astana) and a further 20 seconds ahead of Thibaut Pinot (FDJ). American rider Tom Peterson (Garmin-Cervélo) is fourth, one minute 50 seconds back.
He seemed to be growing in confidence, saying that it was the first day when he was not tired at the finish. He credited his team for helping him during the stage and also ensuring that breaks didn’t get too far.
“It was a perfect scenario for keeping the turquoise jersey because the teams of the sprinters were so motivated for a bunch gallop at the end. I don’t know about tomorrow but I’m already delighted to be the leader of this race today. It’s such a great feeling. Let’s enjoy the moment now and hopefully everything will go well.”
The stage featured a four man break which went clear 34 kilometres after the start. Yohan Bagot (Cofidis), Andrea Pasqualon (Colnago), Rob Goris (Willems) and Alexander Ryabkin (Caja Rural) cooperated together but were unable to open a lead greater than two minutes. They were reeled in 35 kilometres from the finish. A subsequent move by Sep Vanmarcke (Garmin-Cervélo), Paolo Locatelli (Colnago) and Kirilov Tchanliev (Konya) was also unsuccessful, leading to the bunch sprint and Guardini’s triumph.
Runner-up Kenny van Hummel said that he had no answer to the Italian’s final burst of speed. “My team-mates brought me where I wanted to be for sprinting… When Petacchi started on the right side, I had to do it from the left. I had more speed and I did everything right, but Guardini beat me and I couldn’t do anything against him. He’s so strong and so fast. He’s a great sprinter in the making. He’s gonna win a lot at the Giro d’Italia and at the Tour de France.”
Farrar felt he had a chance of winning, but bike problems cost him that opportunity. “I slipped a gear in the sprint…this is the second time I lost a race this year because of that. I had a good acceleration and I was well positioned but this mechanical ruined everything.”
Like Guardini, Van Hummel and the other sprinters, he will have another chance tomorrow. The final stage will see plenty of attacks, but is most likely to end in a big gallop.