Denz sprints to victory in Türkiye

German cyclist Nico Denz emerged as the surprise victor in the bunch sprint stage of the 58th Presidential Cycling Tour of Türkiye. Denz, who was expected to support his teammate, Matthew Walls, in the sprint, seized the opportunity to claim the stage win for himself. Denz expressed his satisfaction with the win, stating, “For me, it’s really nice to win a sprint.” This victory adds to Denz’s successful season, which includes two stage wins at the Giro d’Italia and a third-place finish in the bunch sprint of the last stage of La Vuelta.

The stage saw a group of six riders break away early on, with Jay Vine and Dawit Yemane among them. Yemane briefly held the virtual lead in the Tour before being caught by the chasing peloton. Alpecin-Deceuninck and Astana led the pursuit to bring the breakaway back. In the final kilometers, Denz’s Bora-Hansgrohe team positioned themselves well at the front, leading to Denz’s sprint victory.

Luca Colnaghi of Green Project-Bardiani claimed the green jersey due to Jasper Philipsen’s misfortune in the technical finale. Colnaghi aims to retain the jersey until the Tour’s conclusion in Istanbul on Sunday. Race leader Alexey Lutsenko of Astana commented on the stage, stating, “Tomorrow it’ll be a different story. It’s a good stage for me…I want to try to stay up front with all the good climbers.”

Denz reflected on his season and the significance of his win, saying, “It’s nice to win yourself…This win here proves that I’ve worked well the whole season with my coach.”

The Presidential Cycling Tour of Türkiye continues with stage 6 to Selçuk, which is expected to have a major impact on the overall classification.