Christian Bagatin of MBH Bank Ballan CSB Telecom Fort won Friday's sixth stage of the 61st Presidential Cycling Tour of Türkiye.
The 23-year-old rider completed the 127.9-kilometer Antalya-Feslikan stage, also known as the "Queen Stage," in three hours, 23 minutes, and 12 seconds ahead of Sebastian Berwick and Jordan Jegat of the TotalEnergies team.
In a post-race press conference, Bagatin described his path to victory, saying that even in his best dreams, he could not believe it.
"This morning, I wasn't planning to go in the breakaway, but I saw around 10 riders attack and followed them. We built a gap of about five and a half minutes, and then my director told me we could go for the stage," he said.
Bagatin praised Türkiye, saying the landscape was beautiful and adding that he might return in the future with his girlfriend for a holiday, describing it as a very good place.
Berwick, the second-place finisher, captured the top general classification with a time of 21 hours, 3 minutes, and 3 seconds to take both the turquoise and red jerseys.
The green jersey remained with Belgian cyclist Tom Crabbe of Team Flanders-Baloise, and the white jersey was retained by Konya BBSK Cycling Team's Turkish rider Mustafa Tarakçı.
The Tour of Türkiye is categorized as a ProSeries event on the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) Europe Tour calendar and is the only race in Türkiye at that level.
The route includes Mediterranean and Aegean coastal cities such as İzmir, Aydın, Muğla, and Antalya.
Starting in Çeşme, İzmir, and finishing in Türkiye's capital Ankara, the race features 161 cyclists from 27 countries competing over a total distance of 1,133 kilometers (704 miles).
