In a successful day for British cycling, Mark Cavendish (Omega-Pharma Quick-Step) won the final stage of the 2014 Tour of Turkey, while Adam Yates (Orica-GreenEdge) sealed the overall win.
Yates finished safely in the bunch it what was another regulation sprint stage, which never saw his lead put under serious pressure. In fact, it was his closest contender Rein Taaramae (Cofidis) who lost time to Yates, caught the wrong side of a small split in the bunch which saw him fall a further four seconds behind Yates.
At just 21-years-old, the overall win marks a remarkable achievement for the young Brit, and suggests that greater things await.
"On the first mountain stage, Taaramae was clearly the strongest, " said Yates reflecting on his victory. "The key moment of our race was when I won the next mountain stage and took the jersey off him. On the stage that I did win, the guys kept me out of the wind all day. I arrived at the bottom of the climb fresh, which was really important."
"Hopefully there is more like this to come."
In the sprint, meanwhile, Cavendish made up for recent disappointments with a comfortable win over main rivals Elia Viviani (Cannondale) and Andrea Guardini (Astana). Cavendish benefit from an exemplary lead-out from his Omega Pharma-QuickStep team, who, thanks to powerful late turns from Alessandro Pettachi and Gert Steegmans, forced the bunch into a single-file line and caused the four-second split that caught Taaramae out.
Cavendish was dropped off with less than 200 metres to go, and allowed his rivals no possibility of passing him.
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Results Tour of Turkey 2014, stage eight: Istanbul, 121km 1. Mark Cavendish (GBr) Omega Pharma-QuickStep
2. Elia Viviani (Ita) Cannondale
3. Andrea Guardini (Ita) Astana
4. Kris Boeckmans (Bel) Lotto-Belisol
5. Greg Henderson (NZl) Lotto-Belisol
6. Theo Bos (Ned) Belkin
7. Aldo Ino Ilesic (Slo) UnitedHealthcare
8. Michael Van Staeyen (Bel) Topsport Vlaanderen
9. Kristian Sbaragli (Ita) MTN-Qhubeka
10. Ken Hanson (USA) Unitedhealthcare all same time
Overall classification after stage seven 1. Adam Yates (GBr) Orica-GreenEdge in 30-26-22
2. Rein Taaramae (Est) Cofidis at 5 sec
3. Romain Hardy (Fra) Cofidis at 39 secs
4. Davide Formolo (Ita) Cannondale at 40 secs
5. Davide Rebellin (Ita) CCC Polsat at 44 secs
6. Juan Jose Cobo (Spa) Torku at 45 secs
7. Kristijan Durasek (Cro) Lampre-Merida at 45 secs
8. Luis Leon Sanchez (Spa) Caja Rural at 51 secs
9. Adam Hansen (Aus) Lotto-Belisol Team at 58 secs
10. Enrico Barbin (Ita) Bardiani-CSF at 1-04
Mark Cavendish wins Stage 8 of the 2014 Tour of Turkey
(Image credit: Graham Watson)
Elia Viviani, Mark Cavendish and Andrea Guardini on the podium after Stage 8 of the 2014 Tour of Turkey
