Aidis Kruopis (Orica-GreenEdge) emerged as the fastest from the around 15 riders who escaped today's mayhem in the 2nd stage of the Tour of Turkey and had to battle it out for the victory. The Lithuanian was happy to take a victory after a number of disappointments earlier in the year.

Aidis Kruopis got his career at Orica-GreenEdge off to a perfect start as he took no less than 4 victories in his debut season last year with the Australian team. Among those was a stage win in the WorldTour race Tour de Pologne and he had marked himself out as one of a number of strong upcoming sprinters in the squad.

However, the Lithuanian has failed to deliver on his promise this season. He was the team's designated sprinter in the sprint-friendly Tours of Qatar and Langkawi but despite no less than 5 3rd places he failed to bring home that elusive win.

This week he is once again one of the team's fastest finishers in a sprinter's race as he lines up alongside Leigh Howard as Orica-GreenEdge's men for the bunch sprints in the Tour of Turkey. While Howard got his chance yesterday, Kruopis was the designated leader for today's stage and he finally managed to take that elusive first season victory.

“I feel very good to have won today,” he said. “I had a bit of bad luck with Qatar and Langkawi. I was looking for a victory at both of those races and came up empty. It was especially nice to take the victory today after that.”

The sprint was very unusual as only around 15 riders were left to battle it out after most riders were held up behind a massive crash in the final kilometer of the race. Having been positioned perfectly by Howard, Kruopis was one of the lucky few and he managed to catch Marco Coledan (Bardiani) who had gone clear in the final before he passed him with a furious sprint.

“The sprint was very dangerous,” he explained. “Leigh helped me a lot. There was a big crash, and after the big crash, I managed to come through with five guys ahead of me. I basically started right after the crash happened, and I passed all the guys before me to take the win.”

Sports director Laurenzo Lapage admitted that the team had been lucky but also said that the result came as a consequence of a good preparation and perfect positioning by the team.

“I saw the last two kilometres on the television,” he explained. “Leigh did a perfect job for Aidis. We had talked about the left-hand corner at 1.2 kilometres. They knew they needed to be in the top ten riders at this point, and they were there.”

“Today’s result was somewhat lucky,” he continued. “It was also about the plan, and our plan for the sprint had everything to do with that last corner. Before the crash, the boys were in good position. They did what we asked of them. I’m happy for them to take the win.”

Unlike other teams the Australian squad was lucky to escape the carnage unscathed.

“We had no one in the crash, so that was the good news,” Lapage said “Other teams are not so lucky. We hope no one is hurt too badly.”

The team will now turn its attention to the race's queen stage to the top of the Elmali climb where they hope to see Cameron Meyer battle it out for the win.

Starting at 13.15, you can follow the stage on CyclingQuotes.com/live.