![Tour of Turkey 2026 – Stage 1 [FULL STAGE]](/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Tour-of-Turkey-2026-–-Stage-1-FULL-STAGE.png)
Description
April 26, 2026
61st Presidential Cycling Tour of Turkiye 2026 🇹🇷 (2.Pro) ME – Stage 1 – Çeşme – Selçuk : 148,7 km
The Presidential Tour of Turkey is a UCI 2.1 classification that unfolds as a late-season journey through a landscape of dramatic contrasts,
Show more...
April 26, 2026
61st Presidential Cycling Tour of Turkiye 2026 🇹🇷 (2.Pro) ME – Stage 1 – Çeşme – Selçuk : 148,7 km
The Presidential Tour of Turkey is a UCI 2.1 classification that unfolds as a late-season journey through a landscape of dramatic contrasts, where the roads weave between turquoise coastlines, sunbaked plateaus, and timeworn valleys, their surfaces telling stories of endurance. The terrain is a relentless blend of long, undulating climbs and deceptive false flats, with ascents that stretch for kilometers, their gradients steady and unforgiving, designed to sap strength rather than shatter resolve. Along the Aegean coast, the route flattens but never eases, as the wind roars in from the sea, turning the roads into a battleground of crosswinds and echelons, the peloton strung out in a fragile, ever-shifting line. The roads vary from pristine highways to rougher, weathered stretches where the tarmac cracks under the weight of the bikes, the vibrations echoing through the frames. The race typically begins with a measured tempo, the peloton conserving energy for the challenges ahead, but as the days progress, the attacks grow more audacious, the climbs serving as crucibles that whittle the group down to the strongest. The finish often arrives after a sweeping descent or a final, fast drag to the line, where a reduced bunch sprints for victory, or a lone rider who has timed their escape perfectly holds off the chasing pack by a sliver of daylight, the golden light of dusk settling over the road.
Tom Crabbe (Team Flanders-Baloise) stormed to his third victory of the season on the opening stage at the Presidential Tour of Turkey on Sunday, timing his sprint to perfection in Selçuk.
WorldTour team Picnic PostNL seemed to have control heading into the final 2km, but they quickly ran out of firepower and steam as they went under the flamme rouge and were overhauled by Alpecin-Premier Tech for the front position.
Simon Dehairs hit out for glory for Alpecin in the final 200 metres, but Crabbe started his sprint behind and slingshotted out of the wheel to overtake his compatriot before the line arrived. Davide Persico (MBH Bank CSB Telecom Fort) was third on the day.
20-year-old Crabbe, who burst onto the scene fully this season with pro wins at the Etoile de Bessèges and Ruta del Solo, moves into the first leader’s jersey of the race, with several more sprint opportunities to come across the seven remaining days of racing in Turkey.
Stage 1 was a very straightforward day of racing starting in Çeşme, with a five-rider break getting up the road: Mewael Girmay (Istanbul Team), Michał Pomorski (ATT Investments), Ahmet Can Akpınar (Konya Büyükşehir Belediye Spor), Halil İbrahim Doğan (Muğla Büyükşehir Belediyesi Spor Kulübü), and Kaan Soylu Ozkalbim (Spor Toto Cycling Team).
They got more than three minutes up the road over the only categorised climb of the day, but with the remaining 120km of the stage being largely flat, a bunch sprint was expected and did materialise, with Pomorski the last man standing to be caught in the final 10km.
Results :
 ME - Stage 1 </strong> - Çeşme - Selçuk : 148,7 km
<!--more-->
The Presidential Tour of Turkey is a UCI 2.1 classification that unfolds as a late-season journey through a landscape of dramatic contrasts, where the roads weave between turquoise coastlines, sunbaked plateaus, and timeworn valleys, their surfaces telling stories of endurance. The terrain is a relentless blend of long, undulating climbs and deceptive false flats, with ascents that stretch for kilometers, their gradients steady and unforgiving, designed to sap strength rather than shatter resolve. Along the Aegean coast, the route flattens but never eases, as the wind roars in from the sea, turning the roads into a battleground of crosswinds and echelons, the peloton strung out in a fragile, ever-shifting line. The roads vary from pristine highways to rougher, weathered stretches where the tarmac cracks under the weight of the bikes, the vibrations echoing through the frames. The race typically begins with a measured tempo, the peloton conserving energy for the challenges ahead, but as the days progress, the attacks grow more audacious, the climbs serving as crucibles that whittle the group down to the strongest. The finish often arrives after a sweeping descent or a final, fast drag to the line, where a reduced bunch sprints for victory, or a lone rider who has timed their escape perfectly holds off the chasing pack by a sliver of daylight, the golden light of dusk settling over the road.
Tom Crabbe (Team Flanders-Baloise) stormed to his third victory of the season on the opening stage at the Presidential Tour of Turkey on Sunday, timing his sprint to perfection in Selçuk.
WorldTour team Picnic PostNL seemed to have control heading into the final 2km, but they quickly ran out of firepower and steam as they went under the flamme rouge and were overhauled by Alpecin-Premier Tech for the front position.
Simon Dehairs hit out for glory for Alpecin in the final 200 metres, but Crabbe started his sprint behind and slingshotted out of the wheel to overtake his compatriot before the line arrived. Davide Persico (MBH Bank CSB Telecom Fort) was third on the day.
20-year-old Crabbe, who burst onto the scene fully this season with pro wins at the Etoile de Bessèges and Ruta del Solo, moves into the first leader's jersey of the race, with several more sprint opportunities to come across the seven remaining days of racing in Turkey.
Stage 1 was a very straightforward day of racing starting in Çeşme, with a five-rider break getting up the road: Mewael Girmay (Istanbul Team), Michał Pomorski (ATT Investments), Ahmet Can Akpınar (Konya Büyükşehir Belediye Spor), Halil İbrahim Doğan (Muğla Büyükşehir Belediyesi Spor Kulübü), and Kaan Soylu Ozkalbim (Spor Toto Cycling Team).
They got more than three minutes up the road over the only categorised climb of the day, but with the remaining 120km of the stage being largely flat, a bunch sprint was expected and did materialise, with Pomorski the last man standing to be caught in the final 10km.
<strong>Results : </strong>
<iframe width="100%" height="730" scrolling="yes" frameborder="0" data-lazy-priority="low" data-lazy-src="https://firstcycling.com/widget/?r=152&y=2026&s=1&lang=EN&cn=1" src="https://firstcycling.com/widget/?r=152&y=2026&s=1&lang=EN&cn=1"></iframe>)
