Another day for the sprinters lay ahead of the peloton as they left the start town of Çeşme, faced with a mostly flat 117 kilometre long route to İzmir (Karşıyaka). It was a steady start to proceedings as a breakaway escaped up the road, with all Team DSM riders in the bunch, looking to preserve energy for the finale.

Heading into the final 50 kilometres the pace increased and the bunch slowly reeled in those ahead. Unfortunately, a crash saw Niklas Märkl and Sam Welsford involved, with Henri Vandenabeele held up, but the trio returned to the peloton as the race built to a crescendo. With the breakaway caught, the last ten kilometres were fast and nervous with a swirling wind yet again. As the road narrowed a touch of wheels saw Jonas Iversby Hvideberg go down inside the closing three kilometres, but he was able to remount and finish the stage.

Ahead Pavel Bittner, Cees Bol, Welsford and Alberto Dainese found each other well and came to the front en masse in sight of the flamme rouge. Drilling the pace, the guys swung off one-by-one, with Welsford acting as last lead-out, launching Dainese at around 200 metres to go. Dainese pushed to the finish, crossing the line in a good fifth place; as the team look to continue to build on their sprinting form at the race. Tomorrow’s stage however will be one for the climbers and the mountain top finish at Manisa.

Speaking after the finish Dainese said: “The guys did a really textbook lead-out today but I just missed the jump to finish it off for them in the last 200 metres. After being sick last week personally, it’s good to have gave it a try and I think if we keep going like this together then I’m sure the top result will come.”

Team DSM coach Marcel Sieberg added: “It was a short stage at only 120 kilometres, and a hectic one. At 50 kilometres to go there was a crash with Niklas and Sam, where Henri was also held up bit didn’t go down. The speed was already high so it took a bit of time for the guys to come back but they made it. It was really nervous in the bunch even on the wide roads. At four kilometres to go the road narrowed and there was another crash inside three kilometres left where Jonas unfortunately went down hard. We still had Pavel, Cees, Sam and Alberto together who managed to stay towards the front really well. At one kilometre to go they hit the front and put in for me what was the perfect lead-out but Alberto just didn’t quite have the legs to fully finish it off after his recent sickness. Our goal today though was to be really good in the basics and if you look at the lead-out I think we did that; it was really on point and almost a text book lead-out. I’m proud of the guys. What we showed today, we can also do in the coming days and races so I’m looking forward to more nice teamwork from the guys. Tomorrow is a mountain stage where we will position Henri as best as possible for the finale.”