Jasper Philipsen of Alpecin-Deceuninck wins 4th leg of Tour of Türkiye

25-year-old cyclist has most stage wins of 2023 season with 18 victories, surpassing Slovenia's Tadej Pogacar

By Emre Asikci

ISTANBUL (AA) — Jasper Philipsen claimed the fourth stage and his third win in the 58th Presidential Cycling Tour of Türkiye on Wednesday.

The 25-year-old Belgian from the team Alpecin-Deceuninck finished first, pedaling ahead of Timothy Dupont of Tarteletto-Isorex and Giovanni Lonardi of EOLO-Kometa with a time of three hours, 50 minutes, and 17 seconds.

In the post-race press conference, Philipsen said his competitors made the entire stage harder on Wednesday.

"Bora-Hansgrohe made it hard from the start and sent Nico Denz to the front, so we had to sacrifice a lot of our riders to chase him down. I didn't really understand their tactics," he said.

"At the end, I only had Xandro Meurisse with me. He's not really a lead-out man. He's got other qualities, but not sprinting. However, he adapted to piloting me in the finale and trying to put me in a good position for the sprint."

Philipsen picked up his 18th win of the 2023 season, ahead of Slovenia's Tadej Pogacar, after his lead in the 165.3-kilometer (102-mile) stage between the resort towns of Fethiye and Marmaris, overlooking the Aegean Sea.

Meanwhile, Alex Lutsenko retained the Turquoise jersey, worn by the general classification leader.

The eight-day event will continue on Thursday, stretching from Marmaris to another coastal hotspot, Bodrum, for 180.6 km.

Having started on Sunday from the district of Alanya — a picturesque town on the famed province of Antalya's Mediterranean coast — the race will end in the metropolis Istanbul on Oct. 15 after the cyclists travel eight days and 1,235 kilometers along the Turkish Riviera.

The Presidential Cycling Tour of Türkiye, which is the only intercontinental bicycle tour in the world, will host four world tour teams, seven professional, 12 continental, and one national team.

The Turkish Cycling Federation has been organizing the tour, earlier known as the Marmara Tour, since 1963. It gained international status in 1965 and was brought under presidential authority in 1966.

Remaining tracks:

Stage 5: Marmaris - Yalikavak (180.6 km) (111 miles)

Stage 6: Bodrum - Selcuk (193.3 km) (119 miles)

Stage 7: Selcuk - Manisa- Izmir (159.8 km) (98 miles)

Stage 8: Istanbul - Sultanahmet (130.5 km) (80 miles)

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