Mark Cavendish took stage three victory and extends his lead in the overall standings at the Tour of Turkey 2021, beating Jasper Philipsen by almost a whole bike length.
Cavendish (Deceuninck - Quick-Step) launched his sprint first alongside André Greipel (Israel Start-Up Nation) while the rest of the sprinters bumped and barged behind. Philipsen (Alpecin-Fenix) eventually made his way up to second.
The British sprinter also extends his overall lead thanks to the bonus seconds on the line and now leads Philipsen by eight seconds.
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Cavendish had not won since 2018 before yesterday's finish, but now the 'Manx Missile' has taken two-in-a-row in Turkey.
The day started in Beysehir before taking on 212.6km on an undulating profile to Alanya. The last 40km were largely flat though as they joined the coastline towards the popular resort town.
Throughout the day the pace was high with Israel Start-Up Nation keeping control of the peloton for Greipel, with the peloton catching the breakaway with around 20km to go.
After that, the pace started to rocket with multiple teams trying to control the pace. Israel Start-Up Nation timed their move to the front perfectly for their big sprinter with Deceuninck - Quick-Step sat just behind.
Various riders were bumping and barging to get onto the wheel of Greipel, Philipsen, and Cavendish. This continued all the way to the line as well with Kristoffer Halvorsen (Uno-X) almost crashing in the final 50 metres.
But it was Cavendish who came out on top as he kicked off his sprint early, choosing the other side of the road to his sprint rivals, using Greipel's lead-out man, Rick Zabel, as a slingshot.
After that, it was a battle for the British rider's wheel. Philipsen won that battle and finished with a lot of speed, but couldn't even begin to get by Cavendish in the closing stages. Polish champion, Stanisław Aniołkowski (Bingoal-Pauwels Sauces-Wallonie Bruxelles) managed to take an impressive third place.
Cavendish now holds a lead of eight seconds in the overall ahead of Philipsen with Arvid De Kleijn dropping to third overall at 10 seconds down going into stage four, a 184.4km route of largely flat terrain from Alanya to Kemar with another sprint expected.
Results
Tour of Turkey 2021, stage three: Beysehir to Alanya (212.6km)
1. Mark Cavendish (GBr) Deceuninck - Quick-Step, in 5-10-30
2. Jasper Philipsen (Bel) Alpecin-Fenix
3. Stanislaw Aniolkowski (Pol) Bingoal-Pauwels Sauces-Wallonie Bruxelles
4. Kristoffer Halvorsen (Nor) Uno-X Pro Cycling
5. André Greipel (Ger) Israel Start-Up Nation
6. Manuel Belletti (Ita) Eolo-Kometa
7. Arvid De Kleijn (Ned) Rally Cycling
8. Lionel Taminiaux (Bel) Alpecin-Fenix
9. Eduard-Michael Grosu (Rom) Team Delko
10. Giovanni Lonardi (Ita) Bardiani-CSF-Faizane, all at same time
General classification after stage three
1. Mark Cavendish (GBr) Deceuninck - Quick-Step, in 10-03-14
2. Jasper Philipsen (Bel) Alpecin-Fenix, at 8 seconds
3. Arvid De Kleijn (Ned) Rally Cycling, at 10s
4. Kristoffer Halvorsen (Nor) Uno-X Pro Cycling, at 14s
5. André Greipel (Ger) Israel Start-Up Nation, at 16s
6. Stanisław Aniołkowski (Pol) Bingoal-Pauwels Sauces-Wallonie Bruxelles
7. Pierre Barbier (Fra) Team Delko, at same time
8. Artyom Zakharov (Kaz) Astana-Premier Tech, at 17s
9. Garikoitz Bravo (Esp) Euskaltel-Euskadi
10. Sean De Bie (Bel) Bingoal-Pauwels Sauces-Wallonie Bruxelles, at same time
