STAGE 3: FABIO JAKOBSEN GETS HIS FIRST TASTE OF TURKISH DELIGHT

STAGE 3: FABIO JAKOBSEN GETS HIS FIRST TASTE OF TURKISH DELIGHT

Dutch up and coming sprinter Fabio Jakobsen of Deceuninck-Quick Step claimed his first ever stage win at the Presidential Tour of Turkey as he outsprinted Sam Bennett, the winner of the first two stages who extended his overall lead while Mark Cavendish made a notable come back on the podium of a bike race.
Ahmet Örken first on the move 117 riders took the start in Çannakale on the banks of the Dardanelles strait. Turkish national team rider Ahmet Örken was the first attacker of the day. After he got reeled in, he rode away again to form a 6-man breakaway along with Umberto Marengo (Neri-KTM), Victor Langellotti (Burgos-BH), Lindsay De Vylder (Vlaanderen-Baloise), Urko Berrade (Euskadi-Murias) and his teammate Feritcan Samli wearing the white jersey of the Beauties of Turkey sprint competition. Örken led out Samli in the sprint located at Troia, the home of the famous Trojan horse, and the two Turkish cyclists crossed the line of km 20.9 in that order with
De Vylder in third place. De Vylder hunting for primes The Belgian took his revenge in the sprint prime at km 42.8 and was second to Marengo at the KOM at km 76.8. Örken was the first breakaway rider to wait for the peloton after completing his duty as a domestique in the Beauties of Turkey sprint. Langellotti was back in the pack with 30km to go. Marengo, Berrade, De Vylder and Samli were chased down by teams Bora-Hansgrohe, Lotto-Soudal and Deceuninck-Quick Step. It was all together again with 10.5km to go. A flag in Jakobsen’s bike No attack took place in the last 10km as the peloton was facing a headwind. Different teams swapped the first positions of the bunch. Dimension Data was obviously focused on bringing Cavendish back to his sprinting sensations. Jakobsen got a fright as a flag got stuck in his bike but he managed to follow the plan that consisted in being led out by Max Richeze. Coming from behind, Bennett wasn’t able to overtake him, unlike on stage 1. This is Jakobsen’s third victory this year after stage 1 in the Volta ao Algarve in Portugal in February and the Scheldeprijs in Belgium last week. As he’s not scheduled for any Grand Tour in 2019, the second year pro from the Gelderland made the Presidential Tour of Turkey his big goal of the Spring while another part of his team is focused on the classics at this time of the year. He was full of praise for Turkish fans as he took their national flag on stage with him for the celebration.