Until a few months ago, for Colombia-Coldeportes’ Sebastian Molano, Mark Cavendish was a model to look at from a long way, an inspiration to climb up to the top of cycling World. Now, with less than half of his first European season gone, the 20-year-old Colombian sprinter is progressing steadily, and Cavendish’s wake is not that far away anymore. In Tour of Turkey stage 2, Alanya – Antalya (182 km), Molano was held just a few inches away of the British sprinter, who once again edged the mass sprint: Molano finished fourth, also behind Sacha Modolo (Lampre-Merida) and Nicola Ruffoni (Bardiani-CSF), but it looked like he was capable to finish even higher in the standings.

Right after the finish, Molano used Twitter to thank the whole team for its solid work, as Sports Director Oscar Pellicioliagreed: “Today we showed we have learned from yesterday’s mistake, Edwin Avila led Molano off perfectly inside the last 10 km, keeping him sheltered and leaving him on the right wheel in the final metres. Sebastian showed all of his speed, he was feeling strong and looked for a gap between Cavendish and Modolo, with no luck: this might have costed a position, but he did it because he was looking to win. Courage and ambitions are key for a top sprinter, and this guy has them both.”

In a stage without any real climb, a group of five attackers – Mas (Caja Rural), Niyonshuti (MTN-Qhubeka), De Meesmaeker (Novo Nordisk), Zurlo (UnitedHealthcare), Veuchelen (Wanty-Gobert) – animated the stage early on. The breakaway was controlled by Etixx-Quickstep, Lotto-Soudal and Orica-GreenEDGE, and eventually reeled in with 12 km to go. From there on, the battle for position started, with Molano always sitting on Edwin Avila’s win and inside the top-25 positions, and finally able to accelerate impressively and finish close to the former World Champion.

Tomorrow the scenario will change in stage 3, 163 km starting in Kemer and finishing uphill in Elmali, at the end of a demanding 6 km climb. Time for climbers to come to the fore: the Escarabajos will count on Carlos Julian Quintero andAlex Cano, with youngsters Edward Diaz and Daniel Martinez ready to step up.