Casper van Uden clinches stage 5 of 61st Presidential Cycling Tour of Türkiye

Casper van Uden of Team Picnic PostNL powered to victory in stage 5 of the 61st Presidential Cycling Tour of Türkiye on Thursday.

The 24-year-old Dutch cyclist completed the 180.7 km Patara-Kemer in 4 hours, 6 minutes, and 9 seconds.

Marcin Budzinski from MBH Bank Ballan CSB finished in second, while Nikita Tsvetkov of team Bardiani CSF 7 Saber came third on the longest stage of the tour.

Cyclists competing in the Tour of Türkiye wear 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, the green by the best sprinter, the white by the leader of the Beauties of Türkiye classification, and the red by the best climber, also known as the “King of the Mountains.”

Ivan Ramiro Sosa from Colombia, the Queen stage winner, remained atop the general classification (GC) with a time of 17 hours, 38 minutes, and 43 seconds with three stages to go.

With Thursday’s result, Sosa kept both the turquoise and red jerseys.

The green jersey remained with Belgian cyclist Tom Crabbe of Team Flanders-Baloise, and the white jersey remained with Konya BBSK Cycling Team’s Turkish rider Mustafa Tarakci.

The eight-day race will continue on Friday with the 127.9-kilometer Antalya-Feslikan stage.

– TOUR OF TÜRKİYE

The Tour of Türkiye is categorized as a ProSeries event on the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) Europe Tour calendar and is the only race in Türkiye at that level.

The route includes Mediterranean and Aegean coastal cities such as Izmir, Aydin, Mugla, and Antalya.

Starting in Cesme, Izmir, and finishing in Türkiye’s capital of Ankara, the race features 161 cyclists from 27 countries competing over a total distance of 1,133 kilometers (704 miles).