Max Richeze is the best placed Quick-Step Floors rider in the general classification, second after two stages.
Another fast and furious finale unfolded at the Tour of Turkey, this time in Antalya – the country's largest city on the Mediterranean coast, first settled two millennia ago by the Hellenistic dynasty of the Attalids, and a regular feature on the race since 2008 – where the 150km-long stage 2 concluded.
Quick-Step Floors took again responsibility in the pack, protecting stage 1 winner and overall leader Maximiliano Richeze, and at the same time maintaining a steady pace behind the four escapees, with Tim Declercq, Iljo Keisse and Zdenek Stybar exchanging turns and putting in a hard work which paid dividends with ten kilometers to go, when the quartet got pegged back.
One of the best lead-out riders in the world, Max Richeze navigated through the field with Alvaro Hodeg on his wheel as they approached the final kilometer, after Stybar had previously stretched out the bunch, dropping the Colombian inside the last 150 meters. The 22-year-old neo-pro came out of the Argentinean's wheel and delivered a fine sprint, which at the end of the day saw him take second, behind Sam Bennett (Bora-Hansgrohe), for his tenth podium of what's been a truly remarkable season.
"The team was perfect today, keeping the break under control the whole stage and putting me in a good position for the sprint, so I want to thank them for that. Maybe we came a a bit too early to the front in the sprint, as Bennett was right on my wheel and with the headwind he could same some energy and pass me with 30 meters to go. I'm glad that my legs are good and motivated to try again on the next stages", said Alvaro, the only neo-pro to have won on World Tour level multiple times this year.
Photo credit: ©Alex Livesey/ Getty Images
