Andrea Piechele took a superb 2nd place in Presidential Cycling Tour of Turkey’s stage 7 which finished in Izmir city after 165km.

Bardiani was again one of the most active teams, especially in the second part of the stage when the peloton faced a late climb with peak 28km to go. Here several riders were dropped and in the leading group there were 6 riders from Bardiani – CSF.

On the descent, the first chasing group with Mark Cavendish (Etixx – Quick Step) closed the gap. With this new situation the British sprinter became the favorite for the stage victory and he lived up to the status by outsprinting Andrea Piechele who was fast and smart to take Cavendish’s wheel with 500 meters to go and conquer a great 2nd place, the best result for Bardiani – CSF at the Tour of Turkey so far.

”I still miss something in a bunch sprint to aim for the victory but today with a more demanding stage I climbed the last ascent in the leading group and I had more time to recover on the following descent," he said. "So all was good to get a great result as it happened in the end. I’m happy of course, it’s a great second place behind the strongest and fastest sprinter in the world.

"In the sprint, there was some chaos because everybody wanted to take the final corner with 2km to go in the front. However thanks to my teammates I was able to be behind Cavendish and it was the perfect position to bring home this beautiful podium.

"It's a good result, and the best I could get against Cavendish. I'm very satisfied, also because it's one of my best results of the season so far. I was already riding well in the previous stages but I couldn't find a way through. I had lost the habit of sprinting. But today, I crossed the line among the best.

"I recovered on the descent and I had a clear head, so I found Cavendish's wheel. Colbrelli was up there with me, on my wheel, but with 1.5 km to go, we lost each other and I I wasn't going to lose Cavendish's slipstream."

”Andrea was very good. This is a great result both for him and the whole squad which did a positve race today. We had different options for the finale. Colbrelli for a reduced group sprint or Piechele for a bunch sprint. When Cavendish got back, we knew it could be hard to sprint for the victory, but Andrea tried, achieving a great 2nd place," sports director Mirko Rossato said.