In the final stage of the 58th Tour of Turkey, the cyclists covered a distance of 130.5 kilometers within Istanbul. The peloton remained in control of the small breakaway throughout the race, so a massive finish in the streets of Istanbul was expected.
In the breakaway was Jay Vine, who had already won the previous stage after a solo escape. As a result, Alpecin-Deceuninck took responsibility for chasing the leading group, with some assistance from Astana Qazaqstan. The Kazakh team wasn’t doing this for Mark Cavendish but rather for Cees Bol. It was precisely Cavendish who ended up leading the train for Bol.
Alpecin Deceuninck seemed to have perfect timing for the finish, but the last kilometer was still quite chaotic. However, Philipsen remained very alert, wasn’t caught off guard in the tricky and narrow final, and was the first to initiate the sprint. Cees Bol stayed on the wheel of the Belgian but couldn’t surpass him, making Jasper Philipsen the big winner.
Lutsenko was the other big winner of the day, finishing the final stage with the peloton and securing the overall victory. The 31-year-old Kazakh was accompanied on the final podium by Ben Zwiehoff and Harold Tejada, the second cyclist from the Astana Qazaqstan Team on the podium.
Watch the finish:
Results of the 8th stage of the Tour of Turkey:
Final classification of the Tour of Turkey 2023:
