Italy’s Elia Viviani claimed his first victory for Lotto and his first of the year by sprinting to the win on stage 7 of the Tour of Turkey.
The fast finish in Çeşme saw several riders all battling in a tight sprint finish, but it was the Italian who just about emerged the fastest to the line, beating Alexander Kristoff (Uno-X Mobility) into second whilst Davide Persico (Wagner Bazin WB) took third.
This marks Viviani’s first win since the Tour of Guangxi in 2023, and a point proven after he was left without a contract at the end of 2024, only picked up by Lotto in the middle of February this year.
“I always think I can still have it. Finally, has everyone knows, [Lotto boss] Stéphane Heulot gave me this chance and this is how I want to pay [him back],” Viviani said at the finish.
“I’m an experienced guy in a really young team, and the first thing is that I want them to learn from me, from Jasper [De Buyst], from these kind of guys. They can learn resilience, to continue believing in this modern cycling where everyone knows it’s difficult to take a win, so I’m really happy.”
After several tough stages, Saturday’s profile offered up a chance for the sprinters, but that didn’t stop some opportunists from trying to spoil the sprinters’ fun and take advantage of some win in the finale.
The day’s breakaway tried to work together to go to the finish, and they did make it a long way into the stage, but the last escapee was finally caught with just under 7km to go.
A number of crashes marred the chaotic finale, but ultimately all the key sprinters made it to the finish to contest the bunch kick, with Viviani winning by a wheel.
Race leader Wout Poels (XDS Astana) finished safely in the bunch to hold onto his lead, and looks set to win the Tour of Turkey overall with only one, flatter final day to come on Sunday.
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