Durasek wins Tour of Turkey as Mas pips Cavendish on final stage

Lluis Mas (Caja Rurual) won the eighth and final stage of the Tour of Turkey, taking the sprinters by surprise with a late attack.

Mark Cavendish (Etixx-Quick Step) led the sprint behind to finish second, with Mas’ teammate Carlos Barbero third.

There were no disruptions further down the peloton, however, meaning that Kristijan Durasek (Lampre-Merida) hangs on to win the overall.

A short cobbled incline a few kilometres from the finish was enough for Mas to launch his attack and gain a gap of a few bikelengths over the rest of the peloton.

His Caja-Rural team led the peloton going into a crucial tight corner ahead of the climb, setting him perfectly for what may not have been a premediated attack.

The peloton never let the Spaniard – who was wearing the white jersey as leader of the Turkish Beauties intermediate sprint classification - out of sight, with Etixx-Quick-Step leading the charge.

But with 500 metres to go their final domestique, Mark Renshaw, swung off the front with nothing left to give. That forced Cavendish to the front far earlier than he would have hoped, and the Manxman was willing neither to start his sprint that early, or chase Mas on his own while his rivals followed his wheel.

Consequently, Cavendish, who had already won three stages in the race, slowed his pace and opted to wait a few more seconds to open up his sprint, which gave Mas enough time to hang on for the win.

In wasn’t all bad news for Cavendish, however, as second place was enough to win him the points classification.

There was some change in the overall classification, as a crash 30km from the finish forced second place Davide Rebellin (CCC Sprandi Polkowice) to retire. Eduardo Sepulveda (Bretagne- Seche) therefore moved up to second, and Jay McCarthey (Tinkoff-Saxo) up onto the podium into third.

A break of four (Kenny de Ketel, Topsport Vlaandaren; Boris Vallee, Lotto-Soudal; Carlos Quintero, Colombia; Eduard-Michael Grosu, Nippo-Vini Fantini) spent the vast majority of the day out in front, but never managed to build a substantial lead and, despite displaying some fighting spirit, were caught with 4.5km to go.

Tour of Turkey, stage eight: Isanbul-Istabul (121km)

1. Lluis Mas (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA, 2:45:03

2. Mark Cavendish (GBr) Etixx-Quick Step

3. Carlos Barbero (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA

4. Alessandro Petacchi (Ita) Southeast

5. Daniele Colli (Ita) Nippo-Vini Fantini

6. Daniele Ratto (Ita) UnitedHealthCare

7. Davide Appollonio (Ita) Androni Giocattoli

8. Eduard Prades (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA

9. Roy Jans (Bel) Wanty-Groupe Gobert

10. Magnus Cort (Den) Orica-GreenEdge all same time

General Classification

1. Kristijan Durasek (Cro) Lampre-Merida, 31:06:44

2. Eduardo Sepulveda (Arg) Bretagne-Seche, at 32sec

3. Jay McCarthey (Aus) Tinkoff-Saxo, at 56sec

4. Alex Cano (Col) Team Colombia, at 1m30

5. Serge Pauwels (Bel) MTN-Qhubeka, at 1m32

6. Mirko Selvaggi (Ita) Wanty-Groupe Gobert, at 1m58

7. Enrico Barbin (Ita) Bardiani CSF, at 2m01

8. Tomasz Marczynski (Pol) Torku Şekerspor, at 2m02

9. Adam Hansen (Aus) Lotto-Soudal, at 2m11

10. Javier Mejias (Spa) Team Novo Nordisk at 2m15