Description
May 1, 2026
61st Presidential Cycling Tour of Turkiye 2026 🇹🇷 (2.Pro) ME – Stage 6 – Antalya – Feslikan : 127,9 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,
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May 1, 2026
61st Presidential Cycling Tour of Turkiye 2026 🇹🇷 (2.Pro) ME – Stage 6 – Antalya – Feslikan : 127,9 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.
Christian Bagatin (MBH Bank CSB Telecom Fort) took a surprise victory on the Queen stage of the Tour of Turkey, holding off the charging GC battle to win atop the 21km climb to Feslikan as Sebastian Berwick (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA) climbed into the race lead.
The Italian was part of a large breakaway early in the day that started the final climb with a hefty lead, and whilst every other rider fell away and was caught by the chasing peloton, Bagatin took advantage of the head start to grab victory away from the GC riders.
“Unbelievable,” Bagatin said. “This morning I went in the breakaway randomly, it was not in the plan to be in the breakaway, but I said ‘OK, I’ll stay in front for as long as possible, for my leader Fance [Alessandro Fancellu].
“I started the climb, I was in a good shape, I did my pace, and I said ‘I want to go to 10km to go’, then five, then three. It was my DS in the car that was pulling me. In my head was my girlfriend, my teammates, my team. I don’t believe it!”
Starting the stage 13 seconds down, Berwick took second on the stage, attacking in the final kilometres to seize the lead from leader Iván Sosa (Equipo Kern Pharma), who finished just outside of the bonus seconds to lose the turquoise jersey.
For Bagatin, it is a first professional victory, and the biggest win of 2026 so far for MBH Bank CSB Telecom Fort, who only stepped up to ProTeam level this season.
An initial breakaway was caught early on, igniting a new round of attacks with 100km to go. A small group went at first, which then became 14 riders with 70km to go, and they built a solid six-minute lead into the base of the climb.
As soon as they hit the 21.4km ascent, the lead group quickly started splintering apart, and with 18km to go, Bagatin went solo, leaving Şamli alone in the chase, with the peloton some three and a half minutes down.
Caja Rural-Seguros RGA worked hard up the climb to try and close down the leaders, but whilst they swept up the remainders of the break, they made little progress on Bagatin, who went into the final 4km with a three-minute lead.
With 2.6km to go, Sebastian Berwick went on the attack on his own, putting Sosa under pressure. Berwick got a small gap for a while, and whilst he couldn’t fully crack Sosa, he finished with a 12-second gap – enough to take the lead, and helped by the fact that Jordan Jegat (TotalEnergies) pipped Sosa to the final bonus seconds on the line. (MP)
How it unfolded
The sixth stage of the Tour of Turkey, despite measuring in at just 127.9km, posed the toughest challenge of the race in the form of the 21.4km summit finish to Feslikan, which featured an average gradient of 8.3%.
Attacks flew from the start of the stage despite the long, flat 106km run-in from Antalya. Eventually, after almost 50km of racing, a large breakaway group went clear as 14 riders raced up the road.
Alpecin-Premier Tech trio Tim Marsman, Jonas Rickaert, and Sente Sentjens led the break. They were joined out front by Bardiani CSF-7 Saber duo Santiago Ferraro and Marco Manenti, MBH Bank-CSB Telecom Fort pairing Barnabas Peák and Christian Bagatin, and Tartoletto-Isorex duo Jonah Killy and Zeno Moonen.
Also in the break were Lev Gonov (XDS-Astana), Javier Ibañez (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA), Xabier Isasa (Euskaltel-Euskadi), Ferre Geeraerts (Flanders-Baloise), Feritcan Şamlı (Spor Toto), and Metkel Eyob (Istanbul Team).
The group raced away to a three-minute lead on flat roads to the north and east of Antalya while teams including Kern Pharma, Cofidis, and TotalEnergies controlled the peloton behind.
By the start of the climb, that gap had more than doubled to 6:30, though the break split apart early on the ascent. Up front, Marsman, Manenti, Bagatin, Moonen, Isasa, and Şamlı pushed on.
18km from the top, Bagatin jumped clear at the front to lead solo as Isasa and Şamlı led the chase. Further back, breakaway riders slipped back to the fracturing peloton, while Geoffrey Bouchard (TotalEnergies) launched off the front of the chasing group with 12km to go.
By that point, Caja Rural-Seguros RGA had taken over the pacemaking, almost four minutes down on Bagatin, while Şamlı was the only other breakaway survivor left, two minutes down. The Spanish team were looking to put pressure on overall leader Iván Sosa for their man Sebastian Berwick, who lay second.
At 5km to go, Bagatin remained alone in front, three minutes up on Bouchard, who had made just 25 seconds on the peloton. Caja Rural continued to pull the peloton, while Sosa remained comfortably near the front.
Bouchard was brought back 3km from the line, while Berwick made his move off the front 300 metres later. Kern Pharma immediately set to work behind. Jordan Jegat (TotalEnergies), who lay ninth overall, countered 2km from the line, taking Sosa with him.
As third-placed Nicolas Breuillard (TotalEnergies) lost ground further back, fifth-placed Kamiel Bonneu (Solution Tech-Nippo-Rali) and seventh-placed Henok Mulubrhan (XDS-Astana) formed another pairing behind Berwick, Sosa, and Jegat as the front of the race devolved into ones and twos.
Bagatin, though, was unbothered by all the movements behind. The 23-year-old raced on up the final ramps of the brutal climb to hold on for his first professional victory.
As he neared the finish, Sosa left behind Jegat in search of Berwick with 1km to go. The Australian held his advantage, however, and wrested the turquoise leader’s jersey from Sosa, who ended up in fourth place after a late burst across the line by Jegat. (DO)
Results :
 ME - Stage 6 </strong> - Antalya - Feslikan : 127,9 km
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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.
Christian Bagatin (MBH Bank CSB Telecom Fort) took a surprise victory on the Queen stage of the Tour of Turkey, holding off the charging GC battle to win atop the 21km climb to Feslikan as Sebastian Berwick (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA) climbed into the race lead.
The Italian was part of a large breakaway early in the day that started the final climb with a hefty lead, and whilst every other rider fell away and was caught by the chasing peloton, Bagatin took advantage of the head start to grab victory away from the GC riders.
"Unbelievable," Bagatin said. "This morning I went in the breakaway randomly, it was not in the plan to be in the breakaway, but I said 'OK, I'll stay in front for as long as possible, for my leader Fance [Alessandro Fancellu].
"I started the climb, I was in a good shape, I did my pace, and I said 'I want to go to 10km to go', then five, then three. It was my DS in the car that was pulling me. In my head was my girlfriend, my teammates, my team. I don't believe it!"
Starting the stage 13 seconds down, Berwick took second on the stage, attacking in the final kilometres to seize the lead from leader Iván Sosa (Equipo Kern Pharma), who finished just outside of the bonus seconds to lose the turquoise jersey.
For Bagatin, it is a first professional victory, and the biggest win of 2026 so far for MBH Bank CSB Telecom Fort, who only stepped up to ProTeam level this season.
An initial breakaway was caught early on, igniting a new round of attacks with 100km to go. A small group went at first, which then became 14 riders with 70km to go, and they built a solid six-minute lead into the base of the climb.
As soon as they hit the 21.4km ascent, the lead group quickly started splintering apart, and with 18km to go, Bagatin went solo, leaving Şamli alone in the chase, with the peloton some three and a half minutes down.
Caja Rural-Seguros RGA worked hard up the climb to try and close down the leaders, but whilst they swept up the remainders of the break, they made little progress on Bagatin, who went into the final 4km with a three-minute lead.
With 2.6km to go, Sebastian Berwick went on the attack on his own, putting Sosa under pressure. Berwick got a small gap for a while, and whilst he couldn't fully crack Sosa, he finished with a 12-second gap – enough to take the lead, and helped by the fact that Jordan Jegat (TotalEnergies) pipped Sosa to the final bonus seconds on the line. (MP)
<strong>How it unfolded</strong>
The sixth stage of the Tour of Turkey, despite measuring in at just 127.9km, posed the toughest challenge of the race in the form of the 21.4km summit finish to Feslikan, which featured an average gradient of 8.3%.
Attacks flew from the start of the stage despite the long, flat 106km run-in from Antalya. Eventually, after almost 50km of racing, a large breakaway group went clear as 14 riders raced up the road.
Alpecin-Premier Tech trio Tim Marsman, Jonas Rickaert, and Sente Sentjens led the break. They were joined out front by Bardiani CSF-7 Saber duo Santiago Ferraro and Marco Manenti, MBH Bank-CSB Telecom Fort pairing Barnabas Peák and Christian Bagatin, and Tartoletto-Isorex duo Jonah Killy and Zeno Moonen.
Also in the break were Lev Gonov (XDS-Astana), Javier Ibañez (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA), Xabier Isasa (Euskaltel-Euskadi), Ferre Geeraerts (Flanders-Baloise), Feritcan Şamlı (Spor Toto), and Metkel Eyob (Istanbul Team).
The group raced away to a three-minute lead on flat roads to the north and east of Antalya while teams including Kern Pharma, Cofidis, and TotalEnergies controlled the peloton behind.
By the start of the climb, that gap had more than doubled to 6:30, though the break split apart early on the ascent. Up front, Marsman, Manenti, Bagatin, Moonen, Isasa, and Şamlı pushed on.
18km from the top, Bagatin jumped clear at the front to lead solo as Isasa and Şamlı led the chase. Further back, breakaway riders slipped back to the fracturing peloton, while Geoffrey Bouchard (TotalEnergies) launched off the front of the chasing group with 12km to go.
By that point, Caja Rural-Seguros RGA had taken over the pacemaking, almost four minutes down on Bagatin, while Şamlı was the only other breakaway survivor left, two minutes down. The Spanish team were looking to put pressure on overall leader Iván Sosa for their man Sebastian Berwick, who lay second.
At 5km to go, Bagatin remained alone in front, three minutes up on Bouchard, who had made just 25 seconds on the peloton. Caja Rural continued to pull the peloton, while Sosa remained comfortably near the front.
Bouchard was brought back 3km from the line, while Berwick made his move off the front 300 metres later. Kern Pharma immediately set to work behind. Jordan Jegat (TotalEnergies), who lay ninth overall, countered 2km from the line, taking Sosa with him.
As third-placed Nicolas Breuillard (TotalEnergies) lost ground further back, fifth-placed Kamiel Bonneu (Solution Tech-Nippo-Rali) and seventh-placed Henok Mulubrhan (XDS-Astana) formed another pairing behind Berwick, Sosa, and Jegat as the front of the race devolved into ones and twos.
Bagatin, though, was unbothered by all the movements behind. The 23-year-old raced on up the final ramps of the brutal climb to hold on for his first professional victory.
As he neared the finish, Sosa left behind Jegat in search of Berwick with 1km to go. The Australian held his advantage, however, and wrested the turquoise leader's jersey from Sosa, who ended up in fourth place after a late burst across the line by Jegat. (DO)
<strong>Results : </strong>
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