Istanbul: Australia's Sebastian Berwick on Sunday clinched the 61st Presidential Cycling Tour of Trkiye. The 26-year-old cyclist topped the overall general classification lead with a cumulative time of 26 hours, 34 minutes, and 19 seconds, ahead of 160 riders.
According to Anadolu Agency, Colombia's Ivan Ramiro Sosa of Equipo Kern Pharma ranked second, while Belgium's Kamiel Bonneu from Solution Tech Nippo Rall finished third. Tom Grabbe claimed the final stage in a time of two hours, 11 minutes, and 36 seconds ahead of Jelle Vermoote from Tarteletto-Isorex Team and Stanislaw Aniolkowski from Cofidis.
In a post-race press conference, Berwick said the stage was extremely difficult and credited his team for the support. "That was super amazing. I can't thank them enough for controlling everything. They did everything for me," he said. Berwick expressed surprise at his performance on the high climb. "I thought I could get a top five for sure, but in the end, I just didn't have it there. My head rolled a bit, but I came here with newfound motivation and a good team for it. So I'm super happy," he added. He also mentioned focusing on building the capacity for delivering big efforts on key stages ahead of the season. "I think the races I do well in are always uphill finishes. I've always worked on these sorts of efforts. It comes naturally to me, I guess," said the Australian.
Cyclists competing in the Tour of Trkiye wore four different-colored jerseys to reflect their standings in the overall classification and stage-based categories. The turquoise jersey is worn by the general classification leader, green by the best sprinter, white by the leader of the Beauties of Trkiye classification, and red by the best climber, also known as the "King of the Mountains." Berwick of the Caja Rural-Seguros RGA team took both the turquoise and red jerseys. Belgian cyclist Tom Crabbe of Team Flanders-Baloise won the green jersey as the best sprinter. The white jersey, awarded in the Turkish Beauties Prizes category, was won by Konya BBSK Cycling Team's Turkish rider Mustafa Tarakci. In the team competition, XDS Astana came in first place.