With none of his most dangerous rivals for the Turskish Beauty Sprints competition in the early break, Lluis Mas had the task of supporting his Caja Rural teammates in today's queen stage of the Tour of Turkey.

"On the first category climb, Pello Bilbao, who was our designated leader, had a puncture and couldn't get back to the peloton," he said. "At that point, the Colombian Heiner Parra took over as team leader. Three of us stayed with him to protect him. I accelerated at the start of the final climb in order the break up the group., which was still pretty big. Parra went with Rebellin and Durasek to start off with, but they climbed to quickly for him. He managed a top-ten finish all the same, which is a good result, and the race isn't over. There are still 5 stages for us to change the General Classification. As for me, I will keep riding for the White Jersey, looking for breakaways, even if it is not an easy competition to win because there is only one sprint a day."