Paris
Mark Cavendish finished off the Tour of Turkey on Sunday with a fourth victory in eight stages while Jose Manuel Diaz hung on to overall victory by one second.
British veteran Cavendish, who rides for Deceuninck-Quick-Step, landed the final blow in his week-long sprint duel with Jasper Philipsen, bursting past the young Belgian in the closing 100 metres of a 160.3km final stage from Bodrum to Kusadasi.
The 35-year-old Cavendish, who before this race had not won since February 2018, grabbed the second, third and fourth stages in Turkey with Philipsen second each time.
The Belgian hit back to take stage six, when Cavendish missed the podium, and stage seven, with Cavendish third.
Spaniard Jose Manuel Diaz, who rides for Delko, edged Australian Jay Vine to win the fifth stage and collect precious bonus seconds.
Despite the efforts of Vine’s depleted Alpecin team, including Philipsen, on Sunday, he could not collect the bonus he needed to overhaul Diaz’s tiny lead.
The BB Hotels team withdrew from the race before the final stage after a positive Covid-19 test in its team. The American Rally team had done the same on Friday morning.—APP
