ROSTOCK NATIVE ANDRE Greipel dominated the Tour of Turkey two years ago. This afternoon he went some way towards reestablishing that dominance, powering clear in a chaotic final sprint to decide the second stage of this year’s race.
The Lotto-Belisol sprinter, dubbed “The Gorilla” for his muscular, combative style, asserted his dominance early, attacking from the rear of the 43-man group with 300 metres to go. Matthew Goss of GreenEDGE struggled to match the 29-year-old for pace and coasted home several bike lengths in arrears.
Though frustrated for the second day in succession, the Australian will don the leader’s jersey for tomorrow’s more challenging 154.8 km route from Antalya to Elmali.
Matteo Pelucchi (Europcar), one of the few designated sprinters to reach the final straight with his lead-out train intact, capitalised on the advantage to cross the line ahead of both Mark Renshaw (Rabobank) and André Schulz (NetApp) in third.
