Mark Cavendish leads first stage of Tour of Turkey

Ankara, April 28 (IANS) Mark Cavendish of Isle of Man won the first stage of the Presidential Cycling Tour of Turkey.

Cavendish won the 141-kilometre opening stage in Alanya on the Mediterranean Sunday, in three hours, 15 minutes and 44 seconds, reports Xinhua.

Italian rider Elia Viviani of team Cannondale came second and Belkin team’s Dutch cyclist Theo Bos was third.

Cavendish, riding in Tour of Turkey for the first time, is the highest-profile name on the bill in the competition’s 50th edition.

The eight-stage journey will trace the Mediterranean and Aegean coasts for the first seven stages until the end of the seventh stage in Izmir.

After transferring the teams from Izmir to Istanbul by air, the tour will witness its traditional finish in Istanbul May 4, when the event will wrap up with a route including a pass over the Bosphorus Bridge.