With the last stage of Sunday May 3rd, and the suprising win by Luis Mas Bonet (Caja Rural) on the finishing line in Istanbul, the 2015 edition of the Tour of Turkey went in the books for Colombia-Coldeportes with a fairly strong balance for Oscar Pellicioli’s riders.

The overall fourth place by Alex Cano, his first GC top-5 placement since joining the Colombia team, is even more notable when thinking that Cano could barely train until 2 days to the start to fully recover from a cystitis. He kept improving day by day: he had to bite the bullet on the first uphill finish to Elmali, hardly content with his 8th place, but on the Selcuk uphill drag he already managed to drop some of the opponents he had looked from behind three days earlier.

The gutty action launched on the final climb of the race, on the penultimate day, says Cano is now close to his best condition, and that success might be way closer than the 1.30 gap to the overall winner, Croatian Kristijan Durasek (Lampre-Merida), might suggest. Two more Colombia riders ended in the race top-30: Carlos Julian Quintero, 22nd after showing up in the last stage’s four day breakaway attempt, reeled in with 5 km to go in the Bosphorus enticing background, and Juan Pablo Valencia, who added the best climber’s jersey to his 29th overall spot.

It was the fourth King of Mountains title of the season of the Colombia team, after Rodolfo Torres had topped the standings at Tour de San Luis and Giro del Trentino and Carlos Julian Quintero had conquered Tirreno-Adriatico’s green jersey. In the afternoon, Rodolfo Torres further added to this tally by taking the KOM title at the Vuelta a Asturias.

Valencia also had a special person to dedicate his success:

“In addition to the team, that did a brilliant job through the whole week, I want to dedicate this jersey to my uncle, Nemesio Gonzalez, one of the people who introduced me to cycling, and who passed away last Thursday. This is for him. He was one of the people who helped me and fed me when I was a child. And to the race organisation, and my team: we worked well together, we had a strong team. Sadly, we will not be at the Giro, but we will prepare ourselves for the Vuelta. 

"It is very important. Before the stage yesterday, in our team meeting, we decided to try to neutralise the 2nd climb. We knew Rebellin was a contender, and the Qhubeka guy (ed. Songezo Jim). We kept an eye on them, so the jersey belongs to all the team."

“Our goal for this race was finishing in the top 5 positions, and we managed to do that,” Sports Director Oscar Pellicioli said, “even with a final scare: Cano had a flat with 5 km to go, and luckily Avila was quick enough to handle his wheel and give him a chance to get back in the bunch. The final circuit was tricky, and anything could happen, just like the Rebellin’s accident, forcing him to abandon the race. It ended up just fine, and we will carry a smile back home from Turkey.”