April 29, 2025
XDS Astana Development Team rider Lev Gonov, racing for the UCI WorldTour squad XDS Astana Team at the Presidential Cycling Tour of Türkiye, claimed a brilliant victory on Stage 3 of the race. With the support of Nicolas Vinokurov, who helped him get into a strong position, Gonov won the sprint from a large leading group that had formed after a series of climbs.
“To be honest, I didn’t expect to win today. It still feels a bit unreal. Actually, my main role was to bring our leaders to the front on the key climbs and try to survive the last one myself. I was feeling good, so on the final ascent, I decided to try attacking to test the group and thin it out a bit for our leaders, who were always near the front. When the peloton caught me, I managed to stay with them and recover a bit on the descent. About a kilometer from the finish, I found Nicolas Vinokurov’s wheel and shouted ‘go’. He understood instantly and opened up his sprint, giving me the perfect lead-out. The group was quite tired and there was no clear favorite, so I launched off Nicolas’ wheel, gave it 100%, and it turned out to be enough for the win. I’m very happy with this success – it’s an incredible feeling. Huge thanks to the whole team for the support, it was amazing”, – said Lev Gonov.
Thanks to his stage victory, Gonov moved up to second place in the General Classification. However, decisive mountain stages are still ahead, where XDS Astana Team’s climbing leaders, Harold Martín López and Wout Poels, are expected to take over.
