Born in Oswiecim 36 years ago, Przemyslaw Niemiec, the Lampre-Merida climber whose name means “German” in Polish, delivered a surprise victory in Istanbul at the Tour of Turkey as he reached the mythical district of Sultanahmet with a 16-second lead over the peloton after breaking away early.
“It’s a surprise indeed," Niemiec admitted. “At the start, everybody expected a bunch sprint finish but when my breakaway companions decided to give up as our advantage was reduced to 40 seconds, I decided to continue. I’m glad I did. This victory is important for me and for Lampre-Merida. I had a lot of bad luck last year and as a team, we didn’t have the best early part of the season this year and we came here to do well after we won the Tour of Turkey with Kristjian Durasek last year.”
The Croatian started as a defending champion with a suspected fractured rib after he badly crashed at the Giro del Appenino one week ago. Therefore, Lampre-Merida could use diverse tactics in stage 1, the ultimate one being to set up a sprint finish for Sacha Modolo who is the most notable sprinter of this event after André Greipel.
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The race started with a 17km-long neutralization due to crashes that notably affected Carlos Barbero (Caja Rural-RGA) who was one of the stage’s favourites and Davide Rebellin (CCC Sprandi-Polkowice) who was forced to pull out of the Tour of Turkey one year ago due to an injury on the last day in Istanbul while he was second on GC.
Following the second start proper with 113km of actual racing to go, a four-man breakaway took shape including Rémy Di Gregorio (Delko Marseille Provence), Przemyslaw Niemiec (Lampre-Merida), Nikita Stalnov (Astana City) and José Gonçalves (Caja Rural-RGA). But the latter suffered a mechanical in the only categorized climb of the day after 29km covered. Di Gregorio crested the summit first and therefore secured the King of the Mountains lead after winning that same price at the Tour La Provence in February and the Criterium International.
“I’d like to do it here as well but it’s too early to make it a goal," the Frenchman said. “This is new to me. I don’t know the climbs in Turkey.”
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