A fantastic Team Polti Kometa in the Tour of Turkey third stage.
Paul Double, Erik Fetter and Diego Sevilla controlled the race and helped to catch two breakaways. In the last descent towards Marmaris, Andrea Pietrobon, Mirco Maestri and Manuel Peñalver perfectly led Giovanni Lonardi. As the Veronese rider launched his sprint, only a clear deviation to the left by Van Poppel prevented him from crossing the line first.
The jury noticed the irregularity and declared Lonardi the winner. It’s his fourth career victory in professional races, the first with Polti Kometa (second win overall with this italian ProTeam, after 2022 Classica Valenciana which was a 1.2 event) and now he’s also the new GC leader. “I’m thrilled, I’ve been looking for this so much! – Lona says after the podium ceremony – After two placements, a fair reward for me and my teammates. I find the disqualification of my opponent fair, I had the legs to overtake him and he closed me off.”
This is the satisfaction of sports director Giovanni Ellena: “This has been our best performance so far at the Tour of Turkey, and it was great regardless of the beautiful final result. Top!”
Stage 3 Results
1 LONARDI Giovanni Team Polti Kometa 20 30 10″ 3:24:57
2 ZANONCELLO Enrico VF Group – Bardiani CSF – Faizanè 15 18 6″ ,,
3 KANTER Max Astana Qazaqstan Team 10 12 4″ ,,
GC
1 LONARDI Giovanni – Team Polti Kometa 5 10″ 11:04:17 2 26 ▲24
2 ZANONCELLO Enrico VF Group – Bardiani CSF – Faizanè 6″ 0:04 3 1 ▼2
3 UHLIG Henri- Alpecin – Deceuninck 6″ ,,
