Bilbao wins the first summit finish in Tour of Turkey
Caja Rural – Seguros RGA put on a big show on Monday’s stage 2 of Tour of Turkey, completely blowing apart the peloton on the last 40 km. As the pack started climbing towards the finishing line for the penultimate time, all seven riders from the team went to the front and set a pace so high that only a few other riders managed to follow. This later created a select front group of only 15 riders, in which Caja Rural – Seguros RGA was heavily represented with almost the entire team.
When the front group took on the final ascent, the first chase group was over one minute down. With 6 km left to go, Caja Rural – Seguros RGA’s Ricardo Vilela attacked, forcing the other teams to work. The Portuguese rider stayed alone in front for a few kilometers before Pello Bilbao counterattacked and went clear on the final 2 km. Nobody could follow the 26 years old Spaniard who soloed away to take his first win of the season. In the chase group behind, José Gonçalves won the sprint for second place, making it 1-2 for Caja Rural – Seguros RGA. In fact, the Spanish team had no less than four riders in top 10 today.
In the general classification, Bilbao moves up to second overall, just six seconds behind race leader Przemyslaw Niemiec (Lampre-Merida).
Pello Bilbao: “We knew that we had a great opportunity today and the team did an excellent job, dominating the stage with all the riders in the front group. At the end, I won the stage but it could have been anyone from the team today. Everybody did a perfect job. I didn’t plan to attack that far out but I saw an opportunity and I went for it. Also, I knew that if they caught me, José [Gonçalves] would be there to sprint. Tomorrow could be a stage for him as well. We will try to help him but also save energy for the remaining part of the race”.
Tour of Turkey 2016 – stage 2 results (Kapadokya – Kapadokya):
| 1 | Pello Bilbao (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA) |
4:18:51 |
| 2 | José Gonçalves (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA) |
+10” |
| 3 | Mauro Finetto (Unieuro Wilier) |
,, |
| 4 | Przemyslaw Niemiec (Lampre – Merida) |
,, |
| 5 | David Arroyo (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA) |
+13” |
| 6 | Ricardo Vilela (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA) |
,, |
| 7 | Quentin Pacher (Delko Marseille Provence KTM) |
,, |
| 8 | Jaime Roson (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA) |
,, |
| 9 | Ilia Koshevoy (Lampre – Merida) |
+17” |
| 10 | Rémy Di Gregorio (Delko Marseille Provence KTM) |
,, |
General classification after stage 2:
| 1 | Przemyslaw Niemiec (Lampre – Merida) |
7:29:19 |
| 2 | Pello Bilbao (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA) |
+06” |
| 3 | José Gonçalves (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA) |
+11” |
| 4 | Mauro Finetto (Unieuro Wilier) |
+16” |
| 5 | Quentin Pacher (Delko Marseille Provence KTM) |
+19” |
| 6 | David Arroyo (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA) |
,, |
| 7 | Ricardo Vilela (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA) |
,, |
| 8 | Jaime Roson (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA) |
,, |
| 9 | Nikita Stalnov (Astana City) |
+28” |
| 10 | Sylwester Szmyd (CCC Sprandi Polkowice) |
+35” |
