Australian beats compatriot Matt Goss by millimetres to commemorate his national day after a short, aggressive stage
Mark Renshaw (Rabobank) took an emotional victory in the fourth stage of the Tour of Turkey, between Fethiye and Marmaris, on ANZAC Day, the 97th anniversary of his nation’s landings on the Gallipoli Penninsular, during World War I, just a few hundred kilometres to the north.
The Australian sprinter, who spent the first stage of the race leading out Dutch teammate Theo Bos, beat compatriot Matt Goss (GreenEdge) – who was also keen to take a victory on this day – by the narrowest of margins at the end of the saw-tooth profiled 132km stage.
The two Australians sprinted, side by side, well clear of the front of the peloton, with Daniele Colli (Team Type 1-Sanofi) taking third.
“I’ve been chasing this for several weeks,” said a pleased Renshaw, who until today was still trying to clock up his first victory of 2012, and first win for Rabobank. “I worked very hard to get a victory and its great to finally get it with such a great field.
“It was very hard stage and I’m very happy. I knew the running from two years ago. I knew it was a very tough finale. We were lucky there was headwind and the pace was not too high. After the last corner, I knew I needed to hit the front early to beat Matt Goss. We’re both pretty fast and at roughly the same speed…it was down to the one who jumped first.”
Goss finished second to Bos on day one and again second to Greipel on stage two. Today’s finish was his third runner-up spot and while it reinforced his grip on the points jersey, it meant that he is still waiting to open his 2012 victory account.
“I’m second again but closer to the win than the day I lost to Theo Bos,” the GreenEdge rider said. “This is still my first week back on the bike [after a break]. It was a great sprint by Mark. I was coming fast in the end but not fast enough, obviously.”
As he did on day one, Team Type 1 rider Daniele Colli took the third step of the podium. He said three days ago that he hadn’t expected to be so close to the front but in doing the same again today, he has confirmed that he is knocking on the door of a big win.
“I was again beaten by great champions,” he said, praising those ahead of him. “One of them (Goss) won Milan-San Remo. The other one was the lead-out man for Cavendish. They are very strong riders. Fortunately, we finished with a small group of riders today on a course that suited my abilities.
“There are lots of sprinters in the race. Yesterday, huge gaps were made. My condition is improving and I will still try to improve my ranking.”
Race leader under pressure, but still able to respond:
The break of the day was made up of Assan Bazayev (Astana), Vladimir Gusev and Mikhail Ignatiev (both Katusha), and Diego Caccia (Farnese Vini-Selle Italia), and escaped in the first 50km. Gusev was just 3’46” behind race leader Ivaïlo Gabrovski (Konya Torku Seker Spor) at the start of the day. Ignatiev buried himself to maintain the group’s lead, and lift his teammate up the standings, but cracked in the closing kilometres to leave just three in front.
Gabrovski came under attack from a number of his rivals on the penultimate climb, including an impressive jump by Adam Hansen (Lotto-Belisol), which sparked off a breakaway group also containing the race leader and Alexandre Vinokourov (Astana).
A combined effort of Konya Torku Seker Spor, Omega Pharma-Quick Step, Europcar, and Colnago-CSF Inox closed the breakaway group down in the closing kilometres, with Caccia the last to hold out. With 12km to go, the lone Italian was finally swept up by Colnago-CSF Inox, and the sprinters prepared themselves for the finish.
There were further attacks on the final short, sharp climb with less than ten kilometres to go, though, including an impressive surge by Hansen, which itself followed on from unexpected driving on the climb from Andre Greipel.
Other riders tried to go with him but they cracked. However with a headwind causing resistance for the Australian, the gap didn’t open like he hoped. GreenEdge’s Cameron Meyer took control of the shrinking peloton and calmly brought things together again on the descent towards the finish.
There were a number of attacks in the final kilometres, but the sprinters’ teams pulled it together as they hit the line. Gabrovski finished safely in the peloton, holding on to his lead for another day.
“It was not easy,” he said afterwards. “The stage was very nervous, especially at the start with a tough climb that was not on the road-book. The first 30 kilometres were very tricky for us and for the whole peloton. Then I looked at my team director and my team-mates started to control to defend my jersey.
“I was involved in most of the attacks on the climbs because there were dangerous riders like Alexandre Vinokourov that you cannot afford to let go. I showed how much I want to keep this jersey until the finish.”
He’s moved a day closer to doing that, but knows that he’s only at the halfway point of the race and that a lot of kilometres must be covered before the big finale in Istanbul on Sunday.
One of those determined to wrest the jersey from his grasp is Frenchman Romain Bardet (Ag2r La Mondiale), who started the day fifth overall. “If it was useless to attack the leader, I would not even try,” he said, showing good spirit. “I tried to force the decision first in the climb early in the stage and in the finale but the headwind made it impossible to make a difference.
“I don’t believe my gap is impossible to bridge. The leader is very strong but he will not be able to keep jumping after everyone if we keep attacking him like we did today.”
Tomorrow’s stage offers further platform for attacks, with several short climbs littering the 178 kilometre route between Marmaris and Turgutreis.