Mark Cavendish is ready to make his return to racing on the Presidential Biking Tour of Turkey having absolutely recovered from his advanced fractured collarbone sustained on the Tour de France.
Postponed from its typical April slot on the calendar to October because of the main earthquake that hit the nation, the 58th version of Tour of Turkey takes place from October 8 to fifteen.
In 2021, the Manxman used the Tour of Turkey as a part of his highly effective comeback which culminated in 4 stage wins on the Tour de France. Hoping that historical past will repeat itself, in a considerably modified model, Cavendish introduced that he’ll return to the peloton subsequent yr, signing a brand new cope with Astana Qazaqstan, with the intention of setting a record-breaking thirty fifth Tour de France stage win.
However first, Cavendish will look so as to add extra victories on the Tour of Turkey, a race the place he has extra stage wins than every other rider.
His probability will come early on 135km stage 1 from Alanya to Antalya, however Cavendish must deal with Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck). The Belgian has already notched 15 victories this season, the most recent on the Elfstedenrace after powerful racing within the wind of Friesland, three days in the past.
The final time the 2 riders battled one another was on stage 7 on the Tour de France the place Philipsen took the win forward of Cavendish who held on for second place regardless of a mechanical downside. The subsequent day, Cavendish crashed out whereas Philipsen went on to win a complete of 4 levels and the inexperienced jersey.
The sprinters might have two extra probabilities after the opening day, the following being on the 165.3km stage 4 from Fethiye to Marmaris after which the ultimate 130.5km stage from İstanbul to Sultanahmet.
The final classification is prone to be determined by the additional troublesome 104.1km stage 3 beginning in Fethiye which culminates with the ascent of the steep and winding highway to Babadağ. The 18.9km closing hors categorie climb to 1,937 metres excessive has a mean slope of 10.8% and ramps of 16% within the closing kilometres.
The stage must be an ideal launchpad for Jay Vine and his UAE Crew Emirates to seal their lead within the UCI Crew Rankings. As of September 29, the crew had a bonus of 395 factors on Jumbo-Visma, who usually are not racing in Turkey.
Stage 3 may additionally present the chance for the Australian to take the benefit on the general battle, after claiming the runner-up placings two years in a row, ending down by 20 seconds in 2022 and by one second in 2021. The 1,231km hilly route Tour of Turkey additionally presents many different probabilities for the climbers, together with stage 6 which has one other mountain high end.