Davide Rebellin may be 42 years old but today he proved that he can still mix it up with the best in the hard terrain. In the ixth stage of the Tour of Turkey, the veteran Italian took a fine third after being beaten by two young neo-pros.

Davide Rebellin may no longer be able to win the biggest races in the world but the 42 year old Italian remains a very capable bike rider. Today he finished third in the hard sixth stage of the Tour of Turkey.

Rebellin has always been known for his explosiveness on a short finishing climb and he found the stage to Selcuk to his liking. On the final climb, he saved himself for one final acceleration that he put in when the finish line was in sight.

Unfortunately, young neo-pro Adam Yates had already taken off and so the CCC Polsat captain was left to battle for the minor spots on the podium. In the finale, he took off with another neo-pro, Davide Formolo, and was beaten into third by his talented compatriot.

“It’s a good result," he said. "I could not have done any better. I was hoping for us to still be together with 300 metres to go and for victory to be decided on a sprint but the Orica rider attacked as a strong man. I sprinted for a podium placing. I’m glad I did.

"I am happy with this stage. When we did the climb, I knew that the sprint would only be for second as Yates rode very strongly and quickly got a big advantage over out small group. I was on the wheel of Formolo and I thought that I could beat him, but I have to admit that he did a really good sprint."

Rebellin moved into 5th on GC and will regret the 10 seconds he lost in a split on stage 4 as he would otherwise have found himself on the overall podium.