Tobias Lund Andresen beats Danny van Poppel in Turkey in the absence of Jakobsen

Tobias Lund Andresen has defeated Danny van Poppel in the fourth stage of the Tour of Turkey. After a difficult stage, the young Dane from DSM-Firmenich PostNL managed to win the sprint from a thinned out peloton. Fabio Jakobsen, who won the opening stage earlier this week, had already been released, so Andresen was given the opportunity to sprint. Van Poppel (BORA-hansgrohe) and Henri Uhlig (Alpecin-Deceuninck) came second and third.

After Danny van Poppel’s punished sprint, the Tour of Turkey continued today with a 138 kilometer stage from Marmaris to Bodrum. A ride with elevation meters, but also one where the last big climb was well before the finish. The top of the second category climb was just under 40 kilometers from the finish. The final was not entirely smooth either.

Eight riders chose to attack in this fourth stage, including the Dutchman Owen Geleijn (Tour de Tietema-Unibet) and the Belgian Gianni Marchand (Tarteletto-Isorex). They brought with them, among others, James Whelan (Q36.5) and Calum Johnston (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA). The difference in the peloton was kept small by Astana Qazaqstan and Polti Kometa.

On the toughest climb of the day, with the top 40 kilometers from the finish, the gap between the leading group and the peloton was closed to within a minute. The flight was also thinned out there, so that a six-team with Geleijn, Marchand, Whelan, Johnston, Manuele Tarozzi and mountain jersey wearer Vinzent Dorn started the final. The German eventually dropped out, leaving five escapees.

Peloton has difficulty getting back at attackers
The peloton had also thinned out considerably, because sprinters Fabio Jakobsen and Sam Welsford had been released. As a result, all the pressure in the final fell on the shoulders of Polti Kometa, which had the leader in its ranks with Giovanni Lonardi. However, the front runners turned well, so the difference remained around 40 seconds for a long time. That was the case 15 kilometers before the finish, but also with 10 kilometers to go.

The road went uphill for a while until 7 kilometers before the finish, but then followed another descending section that was to the advantage of the attackers. Geleijn, Marchand and co could dream of a stage win, although the Dutchman had to let go. The cooperation then broke down when Tarozzi started to attack. With success, because during his second attack the Italian rode away solo.

However, in the ascending finish line, Tarozzi came to a complete standstill, which turned it into a sprint. Tobias Lund Andresen managed to beat Danny van Poppel after a fair sprint. Third place went to Henri Uhlig, who kept Sebastian Nielsen and Tour de Tietema-Unibet from a podium finish. The Dutch Czech Matyas Kopecky finished fifth.