Lluis Mas (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA) was again in the break of the day in the Tour of Turkey and took the lead in the Turkish Beauty Sprint competition. His teammate Carlos Barbero finished 12th in the sprint won by Mark Cavendish.

"I had a better feeling," Mas said. "Gradually the body recovers from the travelling. I got into the break almost accidentally and once I was there I could take the opportunity to score points. It's good for the team to be in the spotlight and my teammates could stay in the peloton without responsibility. The next stage will be very hard so I have to see how it goes and then I will try to score more points. There is only one sprint each day and that complicates the jersey, but we will try.

“I am level on points with Zurlo in the competition. It was very important to cross the finish line as well placed as possible to get ahead of him in GC. At the start of the stage, I tried to take the first opportunity to get away, and for a while there were just three of us ahead. But we waited for the chasers because it is a better day if there are five of you. We knew it would be impossible to stay away, because the peloton was going too fast for us.

"Each day, I show the jersey on TV, which is important for the team. I am very happy with the tart of the Tour of Turkey. I’ll continue to fight for this jersey.”