The 2012 Tour of Turkey was the 48th edition of the Presidential Cycling Tour of Turkey cycling stage race. It was held from 22 April–29 April 2012, and was rated as a 2.HC event on the UCI Europe Tour. Bulgarian Ivailo Gabrovski originally won the race after dominating the third stage, but was later found to have used EPO and was disqualified.[1] It was officially announced in October 2012 that the winner of the Tour of Turkey is Alexsandr Dyachenko of Astana.[2]
There are 25 teams in the 2012 Tour of Turkey. Among them were 9 UCI ProTeams, 14 UCI Professional Continental teams, and 2 Continental teams. Each team was allowed eight riders on their squad, giving the event a peloton of 194 cyclists at its outset.[3]
A huge crash decimated about half the field with a few kilometers to go. Some riders had to withdraw from the race due to injuries. As per the UCI rules, since the crash occurred less than 3 kilometers away from the finish, all riders caught in the accident were credited the same time as the winner.[4]
BulgarianIvailo Gabrovski (Konya–Torku Şekerspor) accelerated 8 kilometers away from the finish line in the first mountain top finish stage in the race's history. He went on to win solo and took the leader's jersey. A doping test performed after this stage would eventually lead to Gabrovski's disqualification.[2][6]
The mass sprint was very close with Mark Renshaw (Rabobank) taking the win over fellow Australian Matthew Goss (GreenEDGE) by a margin that was impossible to distinguish with the naked eye.[7]
First professional victory for 23-year-old Andrea Di Corrado (Colnago–CSF Bardiani), who dropped his 5 breakaway companions to solo his way to the finish line.[8]
Gabrovski defended his leader's jersey with the few of his teammates of Konya – Torku Seker Spor who had the resources to help, as they were left in front of the peloton without any help to catch the 3 escapees. They ultimately reeled them in, and a long series of attacks ensued with about 20 kilometers to go, all of which were covered by Gabrovski himself since his team did not have the resources to keep the frantic pace up. Twenty-four-year-old Sacha Modolo (Colnago–CSF Bardiani) won the sprint finish.[9]
Belgian Iljo Keisse of Omega Pharma–Quick-Step won the stage after dropping his 6 breakaway companions with 6 kilometers to go, building a sizable gap with them and the surging peloton. In a finish that was most dramatic, Keisse crashed while negotiating the final bend with 1 km to go. He picked himself up and was almost swept up by the charging bunch, who were on his back wheel as he crossed the finish line.[10]
General classification contender Vladimir Gusev of Team Katusha (12th before the stage) got away with 3 other cyclists so the bunch chased relentlessly. They caught the escapees with less than 7 kilometers to go. Theo Bos of Rabobank won the sprint after a crash eliminated some top sprinters from the race. Ivailo Gabrovski kept the turquoise jersey and was declared the general classification winner.[11]
