On the day of his 27th birthday, Juan Pablo Valencia locked his 2015 Tour of Turkey best climber’s red jersey, with a key help from his teammates of Team Colombia-Coldeportes. It was by no means a birthday gift: Valencia and the Escarabajos had to fight until for the lead until today’s stage 7, Selcuk-Izmir (166 km), won by Mark Cavendish (Etixx-Quickstep) after the GC men had led an attack on the last climb of the day.

After the three morning escapees – Agnoli (Astana), De Bie (Lotto-Soudal) and Atalay (Torku) – were caught at the foot of the Sabuncubeli  cat. 1 ascent, Oscar Pellicioli’s guys took charge of spicing up the race: “Our goal was protecting Valencia’s jersey, and after he had earned a point on the first climb, we knew we only had to watch Jim and – above all – Davide Rebellin (CCC-Sprandi). We had to cards to play, and did it wisely.”

Carlos Julian Quintero was the first to make a move, followed by Adam Hansen (Lotto-Soudal) on the first slopes of the 6 km climb. Once he was reeled in, it was Alex Cano’s time to accelerate along with Serge Pauwels (MTN-Qhubeka), Thomas De Gendt (Lotto-Soudal) and Rebellin himself. The quartet managed to open a 10 seconds gap on the rest of the peloton, and Cano strongly preceded everyone else on the KOM line, sealing his teammate’s lead in the process.

The four men in the lead tried to relaunch their action on the descent, but 15 seconds proved way too little to keep back the peloton for long. The splintered bunch went on regrouping little by little, and at 12 km to go it was Mark Cavendish who rejoined it, eventually living up to his favorite status in the sprint. The best Team Colombia-Coldeportes rider on the day was Juan Pablo Valencia, 17th.

GC leader Kristijan Durasek (Lampre-Merida) fell victim of a puncture inside the final 3 km, but thanks to the neutralized gaps his advantage was untouched, and tomorrow – barring surprises – he will celebrate the final success in Istanbul. Alex Cano remains in 5th position, 1.30 behind the Croatian.

“We defended Juan Pablo’s jersey, and proved strong and active uphill once again: the finishing line was too far away to think about revolutionizing the GC, but Cano was once again among the strongest on the climb, if not the strongest of them all. Too bad that Avila could not close on Cavendish’s group, and take a chance in the sprint. He will be in the mix tomorrow, for sure,” Sports Director Oscar Pellicioli said.

"Now I can be happy. I want to thank the team: they really took care of me today. Alex Cano worked hard today, after I was dropped in the final kilometre of the climb. Rebellin was dangerous and could have got the points he needed, but now we can take this jersey home. I want to dedicate it to an uncle of mine who died yesterday. I started the stage sad because of this, but you have to carry on. I also want to say thank you to the fans for supporting us," Valencia said.

On Sunday May 3rd, the Tour of Turkey will finally reach the Capital, Istanbul, with the final 121 km effort. Mark Cavendish will be the main favorite again, and will be looking for his fourth stage success, but Edwin Avila will look to be among his contenders. He will have Juan Pablo Valencia among his supporting men: after the finish, it will be celebration time again for him.