Place Name: Köyi̇çi̇ Krn Küme Evler
Address: Kıran, Köyi̇çi̇ Krn Küme Evler 285/1, 48050 Menteşe/Muğla, Türkiye
Details: April 30, 2025
It's the first of two big GC days but today is exceptionally short at just 112KM. The first of two climbs tops out 36KM from the start in Marmais in the town of Kızılağaç. It is 9KM long at almost 7% and takes the riders up on a plateau where they will contest the Intermediate Sprint as well as the Treasures of Turkiye Sprint. They gradually come off the plateau and hit sea level with 20KM to go then start the summit finish up to Akyaka, a brutal climb of 9KM at almost 10% average where there will be no hiding for the GC contenders.
A group of around 20 riders got away after a difficult fight to make the break. After about 50KM of racing, rain began to fall it was coming down quite heavily as Jonas Rickaert of Alpecin-Deceuninck led the break, which was reduced to five riders, through the Intermediate Sprint with 55KM to go. The other riders up the road with Rickaert were Mustafa Tekin of Spor Toto, Gorka Sorarrain of Caja Rural-Seguros RGA, Victor Vaneeckhoutte of Lotto, and Xabier Isasa of Euskatel-Euskadi. They were just 30 seconds ahead of the Equipo Kern Pharma led peloton with 51KM to go. The race settled down and the gap to the break extended to 1 minute 10 seconds with 40KM to race and the Treasures of Turkiye Sprint just a few kilometers up the road. Tekin took the sprint uncontested but behind in the peloton there was a large crash that took down around 10 riders. The rain was coming down so heavily that it was difficult to see who was involved but Equipo Kern Pharma and Caja Rural-Seguros RGA seemed to be the most affected.
The bunch started the descent into Kiransahil with fewer than 50 riders. We did not get many pictures from the peloton but presumably many of the missing riders were held up in the crash. The break made it to the bottom of the treacherous descent with the exception of Rickaert who punctured halfway down. The coast road was less flat than the profile would suggest and when we got pictures of the peloton with 14KM to go, it had been reduced down even further to around 30 riders. Rickaert made it back to the leaders right as they started the climb to the finish with 9KM to go and a lead of around 1 minute.
The peloton were led by XDS-Astana who were putting on a hard pace from the bottom. Numbers started to dwindle quite quickly and with 7KM to climb, the last of the breakaway riders were caught. The rain was still hammering down when the first moves went from the peloton. It was Wout Poels of XDS-Astana that attacked and he brought last year's race winner Frank van den Broek of Picnic-PostNL with him. Guillermo Juan Martinez of Picnic-PostNL, Jon Agirre of Euskatel-Euskadi, and Harold Martín López of XDS-Astana came across with 4KM to go to make five riders at the front. The group slowed down allowing Abel Balderstone of Caja Rural Seguros RGA to get on as well but Agirre went to the front to set a pace. Poels broke the relative calm with another attack. Martinez was forced to chase as van den Broek could not go with the move. Poels pulled clear and had 14 seconds with 1KM to go as he continued to climb through the ever increasing fog and mist. Poels kept looking back but he had plenty of time to celebrate his victory after an arduous day of racing. Behind, López attacked Martinez with 700M to go and came across the finish line 19 seconds after Poels. Martinez was next in third at 22 seconds with van den Broek in fourth at 29 seconds.
The GC is the same as the finishing order in the top four with one likely GC day remaining on Stage 6.
Tags: Presidential Cycling Tour of Turkiye, 2025, April, Stage 4, Presidential Cycling Tour of Turkiye 2025, Marmaris, Akyaka, Jonas Rickaert, Mustafa Tekin, Gorka Sorarrain, Victor Vaneeckhoutte, Xabier Isasa, Wout Poels, Frank van den Broek, Guillermo Juan Martinez, Jon Agirre, Harold Martín López, Abel Balderstone