Tobias Lund Andresen sprints to 3rd on punchy uphill drag at Tour of Türkiye

After Sunday’s opening stage success and a sprint win with Fabio Jakobsen, Team dsm-firmenich PostNL set out to try and double-up on Monday afternoon and go for back-to-back wins at the Tour of Türkiye. Awaiting them was a tricky stage, with a long climb coming in the final third which was followed by the oxymoron of a “rolling plateau”, a fast descent and dash along the coast before a punchy uphill drag to the line.
Controlling from the off, the team rode well and took ownership of the race lead with Benjamin Peatfield and Johan Dorussen doing good early work with the six rider breakaway up the road. Approaching the main difficulty of the day some of the other teams then upped the tempo, looking to thin out the bunch. Unfortunately, at around two kilometres to the crest of the climb Jakobsen had to let go of the group with Julius van den Berg and Bram Welten alongside him to see if they could come back over the top. Those at the front kept the pace on, with Frank van den Broek riding well to cover any attacks and Tobias Lund Andresen sitting in the bunch to save as much energy as possible for the finale.
Approaching the finish the attacks flew once more with Van den Broek once again be sharp to react and making sure the team were represented, but ultimately the day would come down to a reduced bunch sprint. Van den Broek brought Lund Andresen forward inside the last kilometre, dropping him off in a good position at the front. Unfortunately some other riders moved around the outside of Lund Andresen and he was boxed in somewhat against the barriers, meaning he had to launch his sprint late. Coming with speed, he surged past several opponents to get up and take a good third place at the line; a result which moves him up to second on GC after the stage.
Speaking after the stage Lund Andresen said: “We took control today, as we had the leader’s jersey and a decent chance for a stage victory. The guys did a good job controlling at the start. Everything came down to how hard the long climb was going to be ridden and it was just hard enough unfortunately for Fabio to lose contact. In the end it was me and Frank in the first group and he did a good job covering the moves so I could save my legs for the finish. In the final, Frank kept me out of trouble but I made a mistake and got stuck on the barriers, so I had to open my sprint late and it was only just enough for me to get a podium in the end.”
Team dsm-firmenich PostNL coach Roy Curvers added: “It was a hard day where we took control to defend the jersey and to have all influence that we could to try and let the race turn into a bunch sprint again. With a lot of altitude metres we knew it would be on the limit for Fabio, but we also knew that when the race would unfold in hard scenario, then it would be too hard for most of the sprinters and then we had a good card to play with Tobias. Unfortunately, Tobias had to start the sprint from too far back. The speed he still could produce led to a podium place and that leaves a bit of mixed feelings for him and us as maybe it could have been more, but we rode as a determined team again today so if we keep doing that then I think it will pay of again.”