Nico Denz, from the BORA-hansgrohe team, secured the victory in the fifth stage of the Tour of Turkey. The German cyclist outpaced his teammate, Matthew Walls, in the final winding kilometer and clinched the first place. Walls finished second, followed by Cees Bol in third. Jasper Philipsen, unfortunately, couldn’t compete due to a crash.
The fifth stage of the Tour of Turkey started in Marmaris and concluded in Bodrum, covering a total of 180km. There was an initial climb that was somewhat challenging, but it wasn’t enough to trouble the sprinters. The second part of the race was a bit easier but still featured some short descents. A sprint was far from guaranteed.
In the early kilometers of the race, Fernando Tercero from EOLO-Kometa initiated a breakaway, soon joined by Jay Vine (Alpecin Deceuninck), Alessio Martinelli (Bardiani), Alejandro Franco (Burgos BH), Gianni Marchand (Tarteletto – Isorex), and Dawit Yemane (BikeAid).
Astana Qazaqstan was one of the teams leading the chase to catch the breakaway. They did this for the General Classification leader, Alexey Lutsenko, but also for the sprinter Cees Bol, who was aiming for the stage victory. With nearly forty kilometers to go, the margin for the escapees was only a minute and a half. That was the signal for Jay Vine to abandon the breakaway.
Chaos at the finish
With just under 15 kilometers to go, the peloton was compact, and it was clear that the stage would be a contest among the main sprinters in the competition.
In the challenging final kilometer, Jasper Philipsen had a fall and bid farewell to the stage victory. Meanwhile, Nico Denz and Matthew Walls of BORA-hansgrohe created a gap from the rest of the peloton. The two held their ground until the line, which Denz crossed first. Walls finished in second place, just ahead of Cees Bol. The latter managed to close the gap but arrived too late for the victory.
Watch the finish:
Results of the 5th stage of the Tour of Turkey 2023:
