Astana Qazaqstan team-mate Lutsenko wins GC
Mark Cavendish made an understated return to racing at the Presidential Tour of Turkey last week.
It was the first time the Manxman had turned the pedals in anger since he crashed out of the Tour de France in July.
Since then he has been recovering from a broken collarbone.
Cavendish announced his intention to postpone his previously promised retirement and continue racing in 2024 just weeks before the race started in Alanya on the Mediterranean coast.
However, his team were clearly focused on the GC, despite the race containing a plethora of sprint stages, and played down any expectation that Cavendish might be in winning shape. Indeed, the Manxman played a team role, working on the front, and only cracked the top 100 on one occasion, finishing 66th on the first stage and providing little clue as to how well his recovery from injury had gone.
Cavendish was intent on keeping a low profile and declined to speak to press, including Cycling Weekly, at the race.
His team-mate Alexey Lutsenko secured the GC with victory atop the brutal Babadağ climb on stage three. Averaging over 10% for 18km, Lutsenko said it was “most probably the hardest climb of my career”.
In the sprints Astana backed Cees Bol, who managed several podium finishes but was no match for Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) who won four stages over the course of the week to further cement his claim to be the best sprinter in the world right now.
Philipsen said: “The goal was to win stages so I think we can look back on a successful Tour of Turkey and a successful season overall. We can now take some time off and enjoy ourselves.”
Philipsen’s goal for 2024 will be to continue or better his tally of 19 race wins, the most of any rider in the last 10 years.
For Cavendish the only goal is to win one stage of the Tour de France and become the sole holder of the wins record, but to do that he’ll likely have to beat the Belgian. Being up close in Turkey may have helped him figure out how.
