Having mostly played the role of lead-out man this season, Maximilano Richeze was again expected to help his teammates in today's sprint at the Tour of Turkey. However, things got confused in the finale and when he suddenly found himself in a position to sprint for himself, he took an excellent second place behind a superior Mark Cavendish.

Last year Maximilano Richeze got close to a win on a number of occassions but this year he has had to step a bit down in the Lampre-Merida sprinting hierarchy. With the signing of Sacha Modolo, he has played the role of lead-out man for the new main sprinter and the pair have formed a very successful duo.

With Modolo out of the Tour of Turkey, one could have expected Richeze to get his own chance in the Turkish race but that certainly hasn't been the case. Instead, he has been working for young Niccolo Bonifazio who has done impressively well by taking 3rd and 4th in the first two stages of the race.

Today he was again expected to work for his teammates but in the confusing finale he suddenly found himself on his own and so decided to give the sprint a shot. He proved that he still has excellent speed in his legs when he took 2nd behind Mark Cavendish.

"The plan at the start of the day was that I had to work to support Palini and Bonifazio in the sprint," he said. "They are two young riders who have a very good condition, so I am pleased to help them.

"With the finish line in sight, however, the group was disunited and I lost contact with my teammates.  In a few moments I had to take stock of the situation and decided to do my own sprint. I positioned myself on the wheel of the Omega Pharma -Quickstep train.

“There was nothing to do against Mark Cavendish. He has a great train and all his team-mates are in great form. It was a very fast sprint in which my team-mates could not keep stay in the wheels so I took Cavendish’s. You only had to stay in his wake to finish second.

"I tried hard to pass Cavendish in the sprint, but I could not get any further. However, second place ahead of the best sprinters like Renshaw, Sbaragli and Viviani, is not bad."