World’s Best Lead Out Man Back on Track For Turkish Debut

Mark Renshaw has resumed racing after battling Epstein-Barr virus. He’s ready to help Andre Greipel winning sprints in Turkey.

Mark Cavendish probably wouldn’t have won six stages at last year’s Tour de France without the precious help of Mark Renshaw who opened the road for him in the last 500 metres of each bunch sprint finish. Therefore, the Australian from HTC-Columbia who did the same job previously at the service of Thor Hushovd at Crédit Agricole is recognised as the world’s best lead out man.

He’s been sidelined during the early part of the season because of the Epstein-Barr virus – a form of glandular fever. He resumed racing last Saturday in Holland at the Hell van het Mergelland where the weather conditions didn’t make the race a walk in the park. “It was a bloody hard race, I stopped after 70 kilometres”, Renshaw described. On Monday, he competed again at the Rund um Köln. “I felt 100% better than on the first day”, he said with a hint of satisfaction after pulling with only 40 kilometres to go. It’s never easy for a cyclist to come back racing in the middle of the season against riders who have a different speed in their legs but Renshaw is confident with finding himself in good form again quickly.

“I’m excited to be racing again”, Renshaw said. “I’ve started training in the late January. On the second or third week of February, I could do some intensities again, that means I have done five to six weeks of intense work. It should be enough to be competitive. I don’t want to go too deep straight away but just to finish in the peloton.”

He’s got another one day race with the Scheldeprijs (April 7) in Belgium on his agenda before lining up at the Presidential Tour of Turkey (April 11-18). That will be his first stage race and his motivation will increase a bit more. “I’ve looked through the stages”, he said. “The prologue in Istanbul looks good, that’s a chance to sort everything out. Then there are a couple of sprints and mountain stages. It might be good for Andre [Greipel]. I’ll be going to try my legs again.”

Sprinting at the service Greipel alongside the Mediterranean should put him back on track. “I’m confident to get good form again by then and be strong for the Tour de France”, he said. “I’ve missed part of the 2010 season but I look ahead now. There’s still a long way to go till the end of the year. Obviously, to have the world championship in October in Australia is another motivating factor.”

2010-04-18

Fifth stage win for Greipel, first stage race overall win for Visconti

Giovanni Visconti will bring back the first “Turquoise maillot” to Italy as the colour of the leader’s jersey has changed from yellow to the mythical colour of Turkish birthstone this year. This is the first stage race overall win for the 27 year old but the 46th Presidential Tour of Turkey will also be remembered for the five stage wins of the great German sprinter Andre Greipel from the world’s best team HTC-Columbia who scored again in the town of Alanya at the end of the eight days “Tur”.

Other Articles

2010-04-17 – Viviani takes first pro win in hectic finale
2010-04-16 – Greipel scores again, Visconti congratulates Turkey
2010-04-15 – One more stage for Andre Greipel, Visconti keeps the lead comfortably
2010-04-14 – Visconti wins the battle with Cofidis and takes the command
2010-04-13 – Visconti wins stage 3, Taaramäe moves into the lead
2010-04-12 – Greipel remains unbeaten after stage 2
2010-04-11 – Greipel grabs first career’s prologue
2010-04-09 – Eurosport TV Schedule
2010-04-08 – Amaël Moinard Heads To Turkey For Winning
2010-04-06 – World’s Best Lead Out Man Back on Track For Turkish Debut
2010-04-02 – Lampre Sends Young Guns To Forget Last Year’s Bad Luck
2010-03-31 – Colnago-CSF Introduces Sprinting Prodigy
2010-03-30 – CCC-Polsat Set Tour of Turkey as Their First Real Target
2010-03-29 – Liquigas Sends Young Guns in Turkey
2010-03-25 – The Tour is a Tool for the Promotion of Turkey
2010-03-24 – ISD-Neri with Visconti and Cipollini as a guest star!
2010-03-23 – For Skil-Shimano, the Tour of Turkey is a must have
2010-03-22 – Footon-Servetto: a young team for a re-start
2010-03-20 – Tour of Turkey, a first for Cofidis
2010-03-18 – Andre Greipel Discovers Tour Of Turkey
2010-03-15 – Presidential Tour of Turkey Becomes Bigger

2010-04-15

Team soul

We are hosting important names, managers, hundreds of employees of cycling world in the organization of the 46th Presidential Cycling Tour of Turkey which we gave start with the prologue stage in İstanbul on April 11. While we are witnessing the struggle of popular atheletes of the world from one stage to another everyday, we are beginning to the day with security forces, employees of highways, race course supplies teams who prepares the roads that the convoy will pass and advance groups that are welcoming them by preparing racing areas at finish zones.

2010-04-06

Feyzi Acikalin

TUR is Not Only A Cycling Race

One of the primary task of the state is to ensure its citizens the right of doing sports and competition. Simply thinking, a bicycle race enters into this context. But, if you organize the mother of the races, it is different…