Etixx - Quick-Step rider Mark Cavendish will wear the turquoise leader's jersey after finishing off the perfect leadout of his teammates at the 145km opening stage of Presidential Cycling Tour of Turkey on Sunday.

The Manx Missile beat Caleb Ewen (Orica-GreenEDGE) and Nicola Ruffoni (Bardiani - CSF Pro Team) to the line after launching with 200m to go off the wheel of Mark Renshaw. Tom Boonen dropped off the final two riders at 500m to go, as Etixx - Quick-Step timed their move to the front brilliantly in the final kilometer. The team still had four riders on the front with 1.9km to go.

The race came back together with 18.3km to go, as Guillaume Van Keirsbulck spent much of the day on the front for the team helping to control the gap in anticipation of the group arrival in Alanya. Etixx - Quick-Step then moved to the front with six riders, and the team kept six riders at the front controlling the race all the way until inside 4 kilometers remaining.

Cavendish is already off to a good start at Tour of Turkey after winning four stages, and the points jersey, in the 2014 edition. The victory of Cavendish is the 20th on the road for Etixx- Quick-Step. Cavendish has contributed seven wins to the tally, including Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne.

Etixx - Quick-Step looks next to Stage 2, 182.3km in distance. The second stage is another opportunity for a group finale, with not much in terms of climbs or wind.

"I won this stage as well last year," Cavendish said. "We talked about the competition at the team meeting and we recognized that there are a lot of big sprinters at the race this year. So we know it would be chaotic, and it really was in the last kilometers. But Mark Renshaw kind of rounded the troops and they did incredible. Tom Boonen came back to racing from his injury today, and Mark had to actually tell him to go easy when he first went. He was riding that strong. In the sprint I looked behind me, and then I ran up on Mark,so I built up my speed for the jump. When I went I was happy about it. It was nice to finish the job of the guys after what they did today. The guys did great, guys like Guillaume Van Keirsbulck who was on the front all day.

"As for me, this is also my first race back after taking some time off. I got sick in South Africa and had to stop and get over the virus. Just to stop and reset everything and to now get going again, it is quite nice. I don't think I'm in as good of condition as I could have been without the interruption, but I am definitely happy where I am and also with the strong team of Etixx - Quick-Step. We'll keep going and try to win more at this race.

“I like it here in Turkey, and I have a great team here to support me. Even Tom Boonen was working for me towards the end of the stage. I didn’t see anything particularly dangerous today. I know from past experience that, after a race, if it’s tense and dangerous in the final, you want to take it out on someone, but I didn’t see there was anything bad in the finish.
 
“No special dedication to my family today. The best dedication to my family is to win more. My little girl (Delilah Grace) understands cycling and says, “Good luck, daddy, go faster”, although she doesn’t understand when I don’t win.
 
“It’s the first time I raced with Caleb Ewan. I think he is good, although, to me, he’s just another competitor who I try and beat. I don’t know if Orica Green-Edge have enough faith him him because they didn’t put anyone at the front, and it was a shame for him because he was close today. However, there have been many, many people in my career who have beaten me once, then got a good contract.”

"With a team like the one we have brought to Turkey, we always had a good chance of winning today with Mark Cavendish," manager Patrick Lefevere said. "We don’t have a GC rider here but, with Tom Boonen and the rest of them, we have plenty of men to prepare the sprints. Seeing that Mark won four stages here last year, we were confident, although winning is never easy. He hasn’t ridden since Gand-Wevelgem. He wanted to start the season really strongly, so it was important for him to take a break. The second part of the season starts here. This is where he begins his preparation for the Tour de France.’