Mark Cavendish (Etixx-QuickStep) got back to his winning ways one year after he conquered half of the stages in the Tour of Turkey when he won the opening leg of the 2015 edition of the race. Having been given a perfect lead-out, he narrowly held off Caleb Ewan (Orica-GreenEDGE) and Nicola Ruffoni (Bardiani) in the bunch sprint to take both the stage win and the leader’s jersey in the 8-day event.

After a small break from racing, Mark Cavendish proved that he has maintained his condition perfectly when he won his first race back on the first stage of the Tour of Turkey. In a big bunch sprint in Alanya, the Brit made use of a combination of his fast legs and a great lead-out to hold off exciting young sprinters Caleb Ewan and Nicola Ruffoni.

All day Etixx-QuickStep had showed their intentions as Guillaume Van Keirsbulck had worked hard on the front of the peloton with Gert Dockx (Lotto Soudal) to bring back a strong 5-rider breakaway. The escapees were back in the fold with 18km to go and with lots of sprinters having made the opening stage a big goal, the scene was set for a big clash between the fast men.

The finale of the stage took place on a non-technical circuit in Alanya that was marked by big, wide roads and so it was a waiting game for the sprint trains that had lots of room to move up. Etixx-QuickStep did everything perfectly by hiding in the left-hand side of the road while their rival trains fought for positon on the front.

With 5km to go, a Colombia rider tried to make an impossible attack and instead it was the Orica-GreenEDGE train to be the first to assume control. Jens Mouris, Magnus Cort, Adam Blythe and Ewan were lined out on the front while Unitedhealthcare moved up alongside them.

Torku-Sekerspor briefly hit the front with Sergey Grechyn and then Nippo-Vini Fantini took a turn but it was Lampre-Merida who won the battle with Roberto Ferrari leading Maximilano Richeze and Sacha Modolo. Nippo-Vini Fantini briefly hit the front before Etixx-QuickStep started to move up.

With two kilometres to go, Fabio Sabatini was lined up on the front alongside Cort and Richeze while key rival André Greipel found himself isolated fighting with Ruffoni and Modolo for Cavendish’s wheel. Sabatini took a huge turn before he left it to Richeze and Daniele Bennati (Tinkoff-Saxo).

As they went under the flamme rouge, Etixx-QuickStep kicked into action and it was Tom Boonen who did an outstanding job until 500m remained. Here Mark Renshaw took over and he delivered Cavendish in the perfect position.

Greipel found himself too far back and he tried to do a long sprint while Cavendish and Modolo went head to head. As they swerved to the left, the German found himself boxed in and instead the door opened for Ewan who tried to pass Cavendish. However, he failed to make up much ground and had to settle second behind the Brit while Ruffoni came fast to take third.

With the win, Cavendish also takes the first leader’s jersey but with no bonus seconds in the race, he is equal on time with most of the peloton. He will wear the jersey in tomorrow’s second stage which is another almost completely flat affair that is expected to end with a big bunch sprint in Alanya.

A flat opener

The 51st Presidential Tour of Turkey kicked off with a short 144.8km stage around the city of Alanya. In the first part, the riders rolled along the coast before they tackled a small category 3 climb and headed back to the city. Here they ended the race by doing two laps of a flat 15.8km circuit and so it was expected to be a day for the sprinters.

The 165 riders gathered under a sunny sky in Alanya for the 2015 edition of the event and they got the race off to a fast start with lots of attacks. Unitedhealthcare were among the early aggressors but their first moves didn’t pay off.

The break is formed

The attacking continued for a while until the elastic finally snapped when Mario Costa (Lampre-Merida), Alessandro Tonelli (Bardiani), Lluis Mas (Caja Rural), Adam Phelan (Drapac) and Federico Zurlo (Unitedhealthcare) got clear. After 21km of racing, they had been allowed to build an advantage of 2.10.

Van Keirsbulck and Dockx immediately hit the front and they allowed the gap to grow very slightly while the riders enjoyed a relaxed moment before what was expected to be a hectic finale. With 90km to go, the gap was 2.50 and now it was time for the escapees to battle for the first mountains jersey of the race. Mas tried to do a long sprint before Phelan countered. Costa was the next to try while Tonelli dropped off. However, Zurlo was clearly the strongest and when he went full gas, he easily beat Costa and Phelan in the sprint.

Zurlo wins the sprint

At the top of the climb, the gap was 3.15 and the riders now turned around to head back toward Alanya. Moments later, they contested the intermediate sprint and here Zurlo was clearly the fastest, holding off Costa and Tonelli.

The peloton accelerated slightly and with 60km to go, the gap was 2.50. This was the signal for the escapees to go full gas and in a short amount of time, they extended the advantage to 3.35.

The peloton accelerates

Van Kersbulck and Dockx were joined by Sean De Bie (Lotto Soudal) on the front and the trio responded well to the faster pace. While the teams started to gather their troops near the front, the gap came down quickly and now Torku-Sekerspor also started to chase with Muhammet Atalay.

With 38km to go, the gap was already down to 1.35 and the main goal for the escapees were to stay clear until the Turkish Beauty sprint. They managed to do so and it was Costa who tried to anticipate the faster riders. However, he was brought back and instead Mas did a long sprint before being passed by Zurlo. The riders made a mistake though by sprinting to the finish line while the sprint points were awarded 200m after that point. Zurlo managed to keep going to hold off Mas and Tonelli though.

The break is caught

With 27km to go, the gap was down to just a minute and now the sprint trains had gathered behind the four hard-working chasers. With 9km to go they brought the escapees back and this was the signal for Wanty to kick into action they took a short turn with Lander Seynaeve before Dockx, De Bie and Van Keirsbulck again hit the front.

With 12km to go, they finally swing off and so it was Bardiani and Lotto Soudal lined out on the front. Astana took a brief turn before Lotto and Bardiani again took over. In the hard fight, Colombian and Nippo both took short turns before Tinkoff-Saxo and Lotto Soudal lined out their trains.

The latter team took control with Kris Boeckmans but slowed down to allow Kristian Sbaragli to take a turn for MTN-Qhubeka. That’s when the Colombia rider made his attack, setting the scene for