Astana's Kudus finishes 3rd in Tour of Turkey Stage 5

None
None
NUR-SULTAN. KAZINFORM - The queen mountain stage of Presidential Cycling Tour of Turkey finished today after a very cold 160 km of racing, with all day raining and snowfall at the summit finish on Kertepe climb, Kazinform has learnt from the club's press service.

Due to bad whether conditions and snowfall at the final mountain, organizers decided to move finish line 4 km down.

Astana Pro Team rider Merhawi Kudus made a solid performance with brave solo attack at 2 km to go, but was caught by the stage winner at 500 meters to the finish line when the road becomes more flat and finally finished 3rd, concluding the podium of the strongest riders of the day.

"We did everything what we had to do by the plan during the team meeting this morning. My teammates supported me as much as they can. When the climb starts they set a super hard pace, it was really great job. I felt good and I attacked at 2 km to go, but last kilometer with the snow was so cold, even I couldn't pedal. Stage winner Felix Großschartner passed me 200 meters before the finish, and Valerio Conti only at the finish line. A bit disappointed, I tried my best, but finally whether conditions was not my favorite. Anyway I'm happy with this result, I want to thank all my team with a really great job and amazing support especially with today's whether, it was all day raining and snow at the finish, I really appreciate it," said Merhawi Kudus after the finish.

With one stage remaining Eritrean champion Merhawi Kudus moves up to the third place of general classification of the race, 25 seconds behind the stage winner Felix Großschartner and 6 seconds behind the Valerio Conti, who was second today.

Currently reading