With a long mountain top finish it was a day for climbers to prove their strength in the Tour of Turkey, on a 37 minute climb where in 2022 Jay Vine, Nairo Quintana and Eduardo Sepúlveda battled for the win. With a high pace and new best time on the climb, 23-year-old Dutchman Frank van den Broek was the fastest rider, after Paul Double set the pace in the last third of the climb.
It was the only stage for climbers in the 8-day stage race in Turkey, the stage before the climb was easy meaning controlling the break did not present many difficulties. The winner of the mighty Spil Dağı – Mount Spil (13.5 km, 7.32%) would likely also win the GC, given the bonus seconds at the finish. One of the race favourites, Victor Langellotti, spent 2,443 kilojoules for 3:30h, which is 11.45 kj/kg/h, a low intensity. Given these fresh legs and the low starting altitude for the climb, everyone would be close to their max power on Mount Spil.
Caja Rural paced for the stage favourite Jefferson Alveiro Cepeda who performed well in early races in Spain and France against strong competition. Cepeda attacked with 8 km to go but could not drop his rivals and blew himself up, as he lost two minutes on the climb. Another Ecuadorian climber Harold Martín López countered with 7 km to go and rode away, but a few kilometres later Burgos BH with David Delgado pacing for Langellotti caught López.
Paul Double launched with 4 km to go but Merhawi Kudus countered and got away. Like on Prati di Tivo in Giro d’Abruzzo, Double did his own pace and only Frank van den Broek could follow the promising British climber. Polti’s climber caught Kudus but lost in the sprint as Van den Broek was fresher after sitting in the draft, winning his second pro race at the age of 23.
With the low stage difficulty and perfect conditions, the climbers pushed good watts on the climb. The stage winner Van den Broek did 6.07 ᵉW/Kg for 37:08 min, however three riders did more ᵉW/Kg on the climb as they were not drafting as much as Van den Broek. Harold Martín López lost 14 seconds and finished 5th but as he attacked early he averaged 6.16 ᵉW/Kg. Double did 6.14 ᵉW/Kg for 37:24 min, which is similar to his Prati di Tivo performance – 6.19 ᵉW/Kg for 36:35. The Eritrean Kudus, who after eight seasons in World Tour is riding for Terengganu Cycling Team, did 6.12 ᵉW/Kg for 37:22 min.
20-year-old Bora-Hansgrohe prospect Alexander Hajek finished 9th, doing his career performance on the climb, averaging 6.04 ᵉW/Kg. The GC is almost as same as the Top 10 of the stage and it will be hard to change it in the final two sprint stages.
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