French Delko team’s Spanish rider Jose Manuel Diaz Gallego clinched the victory of 56th Presidential Cycling Tour of Turkey (TOUR 2021).

 

 

Briton athlete Mark Cavendish of Belgium’s Deceuninck-Quick Step team finished first the last and 8^th stage of the 56^th Presidential Cycling Tour of Turkey with a timing of 3 hours 24 minutes and 38 seconds.

 

 

In TOUR 2021, which started in Konya under the auspices of the Presidency and ended with the last stage of 160.3 kilometers between Bodrum and Kuşadası at the end of the 8^th day, riders pedalled 1244 kilometers in total.

 

 

The first stage planned to be held in Cappadocia was canceled due to heavy snowfall. Instead of the Cappadocia-Cappadocia stage, cyclists started tour in Konya with a 72.4-kilometer route in pretty cold weather.

 

 

Experiencing the sunny weather by going down to the warm coasts of the Mediterranean (Alanya-Kemer), riders climbed up to 1850 meters altitude in Kemer-Elmalı (Göğübeli) stage which is a critical landmark to determine the general classification (GC).

 

 

Then, athletes faced a cool and windy weather on the Aegean coasts. Continuing with Fethiye, Marmaris, Turgutreis and Bodrum, TOUR 2021 has ended in Kuşadası where the rain was drizzling.

 

 

Gallego, a 26-year-old rider of Delko team, took the first place in the general classification with a timing of 29 hours 19 minutes 40 seconds at the end of eight stages, and captured the turquoise jersey and won the championship of TOUR 2021.

 

 

One second behind the Spanish rider, Australian Jay Vine of Belgium's Alpecin-Fenix team ranked second, and Argentinean Eduardo Sepulveda of Italy's Androni Giocattoli-Sidermec team took the third place, 6 seconds behind winner.