Greipel gets Turkey victory

Time was running out for Andre Greipel to get a stage win at the Tour of Turkey but the German succeed with a sprint victory on Stage 4.

Back in the thick of it...Andre Greipel notches up a victory at the Tour of Turkey ahead of the Giro d'Italia (Getty Images)

Greipel missed out in the opening two sprint stages with Mark Cavendish (Etixx-Quick-Step) taking the spoils. But Cavendish and Orica-GreenEDGE's sprinter Caleb Ewan were dropped on the final climb on Stage 4, leaving Greipel as the fastest man left to contest the fnish.

The Lotto-Soudal rider held off Daniele Colli (Nippo-Vini Fantini) and Daniele Ratto (UnitedHealthcare) for the victory in Marmais. Orica-GreenEDGE's Magnus Cort Nielsen was fourth.  

“As always it’s nice to win, especially because it didn’t work out in the first two sprints," said Greipel who now has 10 Turkish stage victories.

"I did get my win here after all. The climb in the final was crucial, that made the difference. We got over the top with about 35 riders. It was a really good team effort today, my team-mates tried to hang on as well to make the sprint possible for me. With 300 metres to go I started sprinting and I won.”

Greipel will now depart the Tour of Turkey in order to continue his preparation for the Giro d'Italia.

“This was the ideal race to get back in competition after my break after the spring races. It was planned to be my last stage today. Tomorrow I’ll fly home and on Wednesday I’ll leave for the Giro. I will do some endurance rides in the following days, but it’s important to get fresh at the start. It’s always good to win just before a Grand Tour. I’m looking forward to the Giro."

Davide Rebellin (CCC Sprandi Polkowice) finished in the peloton to retain the race lead with two stages remaining. The 43-year-old Italian holds a seven second lead over Kristijan Durasek (Lampre-Merida) with Eduardo Sepulveda (Bretagne-Séché) 50 seconds back. Australia's Jay McCarthy (Tinkoff-Saxo) is in fourth, 1min 20sec down.

Stage 4: 132km, Fethiye - Marmais

1 André Greipel (GER) Lotto Soudal 3hr 22min 08sec    

2 Daniele Colli (ITA) Nippo - Vini Fantini         

3 Daniele Ratto (ITA) UnitedHealthcare         

4 Magnus Cort Nielsen (DEN) Orica-GreenEDGE         

5 Manuel Belletti (ITA) Southeast          

6 Roberto Ferrari (ITA) Lampre-Merida         

7 Carlos Barbero Cuesta (ESP) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA         

8 Kristian Sbaragli (ITA) MTN-Qhubeka         

9 Daniele Bennati (ITA) Tinkoff-Saxo         

10 Ahmet Orken (TUR) Torku Sekerspor

General Classification

1 Davide Rebellin (ITA) CCC Sprandi Polkowice 15hr 35min 49sec    

2 Kristijan Durasek (CRO) Lampre-Merida    0:00:07    

3 Eduardo Sepulveda (ARG) Bretagne-Séché Environnement 0:00:50    

4 Jay Mccarthy (AUS) Tinkoff-Saxo 0:01:20    

5 Serge Pauwels (BEL) MTN - Qhubeka 0:01:23    

6 Enrico Barbin (ITA) Bardiani CSF 0:01:29    

7 Daniele Ratto (ITA) UnitedHealthcare 0:01:42    

8 Alex Cano Ardila (COL) Colombia 0:01:46    

9 Adam Hansen (AUS) Lotto Soudal 0:01:57    

10 Mirko Selvaggi (ITA) Wanty - Groupe Gobert 0:02:04