Jakub Mareczko (Southeast) again proved that he is one of the biggest sprint talents in the world when he beat no less of a figure than André Greipel (Lotto Soudal) in the bunch sprint on stage 5 of the Tour of Turkey. The Italian timed his sprint perfectly to get the jump on the German who failed to make up much ground and had to settle for second, with Manuel Belletti making it two Southeast riders on the podium. Pello Bilbao (Caja Rural) retained the lead on the eve of the queen stage.

We have gathered several reactions.

Victorious Jakub Mareczko with modest ambitions for Giro debut

“Yesterday, I went a bit early and I was already out of contention with 500m to go,” Marczko said. “Today my team rode from the start and in the finale they piloted me, especially Belletti. The final kilometre was complicated because the pace fell, and Belletti found himself next to me with 400m to go. I went past him and rode my sprint. But he piloted me into the final 500m. 

“Yesterday we launched the sprint too early but today we got it right. I was helped by Belletti, who led me out. It’s great to win again this month after I did it in January [at the Tour de San Luis], February [at Le Tour de Langkawi] and March [at the Settimana Coppi e Bartali]. Except in Belgium from where I came back with a throat inflammation, I’ve performed at every race I took part in.

“I have no experience of the finale of stage 7 because I pulled out during that stage last year.  I know that it’s a difficult one because of the hill before riding down to town, but hopefully, I’ll be up there. I came to Turkey to shape up my form for the Giro where I hope for some result.

“Up to now, this year, except in Belgium I have performed at every race, and I hope it continues like this all the way through the season. I had a throat inflammation before coming here, so I was at home for a week. My state of form is not great. I'm here refining my form to be competitive at the Giro.
 

“The objective is to get a good result, a placing in a sprint or two. A podium would be a good result. I don't want to ask for too much in my first GT. I still don't know what my condition is. The standard will be higher at the Giro, with all the WT teams there, so certainly it'll be harder to get a result there, but that's my goal.

Strong Manuel Belletti third despite working as lead-out man in Turkey
Third placed Manuel Belletti (Southeast - Venezuela) said: “This is a good outcome. Well, first and third is more than good! We had planned that Mareczko would stay on my wheel before sprinting. It was a very convincing sprint by him. Our team rode at perfection today. We took our responsibilities from the start and I completed the result with this third place. It’s a great satisfaction as I came to Turkey in the unknown one month after breaking my scaphoid in Belgium. Now I’m focused on the second last stage finishing in Marmaris. I’ve won there before [in 2011] and I’d like to double up.”

André Greipel heads home after admitting Mareczko’s superiority in Turkey

Second placed André Greipel (Lotto-Soudal) said: “My team did a really good job today. They gave me a good lead out. They timed it right. But racing against the wind wasn’t easy at all. The sprint happened to be too long. I lost the momentum a bit. Mareczko was strong and fast. I couldn’t go past him.”

Greipel won’t start tomorrow’s stage as he will go home to prepare for the Giro.

Remy Di Gregorio: The stage win will be more important than the mountains jersey

Mountains jersey holder Rémy Di Gregorio (Delko Marseille Provence KTM) said: “The red jersey wasn’t a concern today but it’ll be tomorrow. It’ll all depend on the racing conditions. My priority might become the stage win rather than the King of the Mountains competition. Obviously there are two strong riders in the same team [Przemyslaw Niemiec and Ilia Koshevoy with Lampre-Merida] and we as a team aren’t complete with only five riders in the race.”

Polish CCC sprinter continues strong run of form in Turkey

Grzegorz Stępniak proved to be among the fastest men in the peloton of 2016 Tour of Turkey by finishing 7th on the flat stage to Kemer.

CCC Sprandi Polkowice put a few guys at the head of the bunch to help Grzegorz Stępniak to get a good position for the finale. The Polish sprinter did a similar sprint to yesterday, using the wheels of other lead-out riders to move to the front. He kicked off the gallop well positioned, but wasn’t able to outsprint his biggest rivals.

Grzegorz Stępniak crossed the line in 7th place, claiming his third top 10 spot in this year’s edition of Tour of Turkey.

”Today, just like yesterday, I moved to the head of the bunch too soon, with 800-1000 meters to go. I really want to show myself in this race and maybe because of that I’m not able to keep a cool head in the finale. Physically I haven’t felt so well in a long time. There is still one stage for the sprinters left and I will do my best to bring the orange colors on the podium,” Grzegorz Stępniak explained afterwards.

Sacha Modolo surprised by strong headwind in Turkey

Modolo could not obtain the second victory in a row in Turkey. After that he had won on Wednesday, LAMPRE-MERIDA's rider was one of the main favourites for the sprint of the 5th stage but he had to settle for 8th.

LAMPRE-MERIDA led the peloton together with the other teams and Modolo could once again rely on Ferrari as lead-out ma. He approached the sprint in a good position but he made the mistake of anticipating too much: the headwind slowed him down and he could not obtain more than 8th place.

"I'm sorry I could not exploit a good opportunity to obtain a second success, especially because my teammates were perfect as usual,” he explained. “Xu Gang, Petilli and Durasek gave their contribution on the front of the bunch in order to control the breakaway, later Ferrari led me out in the final kilometer.
 

”I noticed that one rider was starting the sprint at 300 meters to go so I decided to try to anticipate Greipel. However I was stopped by the wind: the sports directors had told us that there was a headwind but I did not expect that it was so strong.”

Pello Bilbao confident for Turkish queen stage

The Caja Rural - Seguros RGA riders enjoyed another quiet day in the peloton on stage 5 of Tour of Turkey. After the morning breakaway was caught on the final 10 km, the stage ended in the expected bunch sprint. Jakub Mareczko (Southeast - Venezuela) crossed the line first to claim the win, while Domingos Gonçalves placed 12th as the team’s best rider today. Pello Bilbao was safely guarded by his teammates all day, making sure he kept the blue leader’s jersey. José Gonçalves remains second overall with David Arroyo in third place.

Pello Bilbao said: "The team passed the day without any incidents and without wasting too much energy. It was a long but positive day. Now, we’re one day closer to the end. Tomorrow, we will see what happens.

"I don't mind coming to the press conference every night. I practice my English here, so it's ok! Having said that, it's been a long day, we tried to do the same as yesterday. We knew it would be a hard stage because of the wind, so we rode at the front. Without taking too many risks, we ended the stage with no problems, so it's ok for us. 
 

"Two days have gone by and we have been able to control the race with wasting too much energy, so we can say that we are in a good position to keep the race lead tomorrow at least, so maybe I am more confident now tham I was. The team looks strong, and I think we can make a good race tomorrow. Lampre, Astana and CCC look like the most dangerous teams for the climbing, especially the Astana guy who is 4th now [Nikita Stalnov]. We have to keep him near all the time. I think we have a great climbing team so we are hoping to control the race and try to go with the group on the last climb, and then our strength will give us the result. I think we are in a good position, the first 3 in GC, so I think we can be conservative, and let the other teams work.
 

"I have the jersey, so I'm going to be the last man, if everything goes ok, but José, David and I are very close together, so in any move, if we have to go to the front and follow a dangerous rider, any of us can take the lead at the end of the stage.”

Lluis Mas ready to sacrifice sprints jersey in Turkey
Lluís Mas (Caja Rural – Seguros RGA) said: “When the breakaway was formed, I didn’t look at who was going for it, if there was anyone likely to threaten my lead in the Beauties of Turkey competition because my job is to stay with Pello [Bilbao]. The whole team is only focused on the overall classification. Everything else comes second. If any day I can sprint for the Beauties of Turkey competition, I’ll go for it but it’s not a priority.

”It’s been sort of an easy day today because no one in the breakaway was dangerous on GC so we had to put only one rider at the front of the peloton. Lotto-Soudal and us, we were able to control and not lose any power before tomorrow’s stage, which is the most important one."

Young Verva sprinter tests himself in Turkish bunch sprint

Forming a breakaway was once again a difficult task and when the group finally emerged Michał Podlaski represented VERVA Activejet colours in the group.

VERVA Activejet’s Adrian Banaszek placed 17th, gaining another valuable experience.

“I was well-positioned within the final kilometre but I lost a bit of energy trying to move up without any cover from the wind. I got a little boxed in but the truth is that I also lacked power in final 500 metres,” the 22-year-old explained.