"The first few days of a race are always nervous. I'm just glad we stayed upright and finished with the group."

Those were the words of Astana's Bakhtiyar Kozhatayev after stage one at the Tour of Turkey. Kozhatayev and his teammates kept their strength in the peloton, conserving their energy for later in the week.

Warm and windless weather on a mostly flat course kept the pace high but even on the roads around the Turkish resort city of Alanya. A flat seaside finish in a mass sprint put Kozhatayev and all his teammates in the same time as stage winner Mark Cavendish of Great Britain.

The team has Ruslan Tleubayev for the sprints and Miguel Angel Lopez and Valerio Agnoli for the GC.