Mustafar Sayar is back in the peloton at the Tour of Turkey. The Turkish rider was suspended by the UCI after he tested positive for EPO during the 2013 Tour d'Algérie. As a result, he lost his overall victory in the Tour of Turkey, which went to Natnael Berhane.
On stage 2, Sayar finished eight minutes behind winner Pello Bilbao (Caja Rural). "I don't know how my form is and I'll need two days of racing to figure it out. Since I finished my penalty last year, I only took part in the [2.2] Tour of Mersin last week [he finished fourth overall while his teammate Nazim Bakirci won it]. It was an international stage race but not of the level of the Tour of Turkey", he told Cyclingnews.
"I didn't want to go back to Torku. I joined a Chinese team [Jilun Shakeland] in October last year but I never got to race with them. After the TUR, I may go to China if Torku has no race program. I think it's better that Torku focuses on developing young Turkish riders now, but I just want to race", he added.
Sayar is ready to be tested. He wants to regain the confidence from the spectators. "I myself joined the ADAMS system one month before my penalty ended in July last year. I'm available for any test and I've been tested a few times. Everything is ok now. For one year after I got banned, I haven't touched my bike but since then, I've trained as if I was going to race the following weekend. At the same time, I've run the Tulumba shop we have in Konya."
Melvin Van ZIJL 33 years | today |
Jonas VINGEGAARD 28 years | today |
Cameron HOLT 39 years | today |
Travis BURANDT 35 years | today |
Jessy CARVETH 24 years | today |
© CyclingQuotes.com