23.04.2008 - After The Presidential Cycling Tour

Feyzi AÇIKALIN

        As I had promised before the tour, we’re together again analizing the race. We propose that you read this analysis, in which the organization is evaluated under different topics, by comparing it with the first one.

        It was a confusing situatonthat The Presidential Cycling Tour was upgraded from 2.2 to 2.1 in the UCI classification. To tell you the truth, it was only after I had watched the whole race that I could understand what it actually meant. Think for a second, you have a team and a tradition of organization that struggled in the same level of classificaion for years, and one day you find yourself in the premier league and you’re expected to race. The truth is that at first I had thought it was a courageous and hence difficult decision. However, through the end of the tour, as all the guest teams, I witnessed that te racing organisators had well been ready and thus vercame all the difficulties.

Professionals:
        Five of the most eminent professional teams participated in the race. Among them, Milram and Astana brought Alessandro Petacchi and Andreas Klöden, their pioneering professionals, and the other teams came with younger teams that backed up their a few stars. Moreover, continental professional teams participated in the race with their most powerful cyclists to show themselves. As a result, Serramenti PVC, a continental team, came as the first team in the tour.

        Petacchi said that he had trained for only five days since San Remo, had to use antibiotics for his illness and that the race in the warm weather of Turkey would be important for his health and to increase his conditioning. However, even his present condition was enough to come first in two laps, especially his ranking the first in the beginning lap occupied an important place in the world sports press. By this fact, it was once more understood that a star is very crucial for any race.

        Klöden of Astana was ill as well. The warning to the team manager of well-known channel ZDF about the cyclist helped and Klöden made a striking appearance. Though not for himself, Klöden contributed a lot for his teammate Assan Bazavev to gain points among the pioneers.

Professionalism:
        We saw backstage scenes of teams that could only be watched in foreign television channels, learnt what requires to b a team, watched the serious team work from the manager to the team trainer and from the masseur to the doctor. The quality and abundance of equipment, the professional work of all these staff in the preparation period all attracted our attention. We saw the serious relation of starring sportsman with the people around him an with the media: they shared the problems related to the results and others as a professional, proposing the precautions to get improving results instead of wasting time with the negative sides of the tour.

Proessional Organization:
        The success of the organization which was upgraded and which was monitored by the foreign media was of great wonder. At the end of the race, the results were close to excellence according to the professional racing team directors who were expected to do the best and radical comments. The head of the commission, who is also going to be the head in Tour of Italy, shared his positive comments at the reception in Alanya. However, there could be a few changes to improve the race. For this reason, the Presidential Racing Directors were advised to take part in the 7-lapped Dauphine Libere in France to grasp an idea about the little but important details.

The hardest part of the operation was in the opening in Sultanahmet Square. This lap of the race, which was very important for the advertising of Istanbul, was like a nightmare for the organizations as it was a first and the difficulties Istanbul herself had. Furthermore, the 20% of the accommodation expenses belonged to Istanbul but it turned out to be only a group discount. After that, the journey got quickly better. The teams flew to Izmir and the equipments were carried by trucks there and after Izmir, the convoy proceeded ahead not experiencing any problems with more and more people.

Accommodation and Transportation:
        Approximately 750 people moved to another city everyday. The background and previous tourism experience of the directorate of the organization helped the sportsmen stay in the best quality hotels. The passports of the cyclists were transported to the hotels before the races, thus they only had to sign them. In addition, the constantly changing lists of foreign teams were handled successfully as a result of precautions taken timely. The teams praised the food, vehicles used, and the security and capacity granted for the maintenance of the bicycles.

The contribution to the advertisement of the country:
        The tour was broadcasted live in 106 countries all over the world by the assigned company. The lap start hours were adjusted according to European hours so that it could be watched by more spectators. The broadcasts beginning at 16:00 everyday continued for two hours. The interruptions in broadcastings at the beginning of the tour were overcome and a quality vision was obtained. For the first time all over the world a cycling tour broadcast in high definition. Along with live broadcasts via TRT2 and TRT Int channels, people could watch the races through sites of trtnet.tt and tourofturkey.org at the same time. The clicking rate of the site tourofturkey reached a number of almost 10.000 daily. Together with the files in the site, the clicks from 80 countries counted up to 2 million. The writers from the Union of European Cycling transmitted the latest news after every lap to their homelands. The details of the tour took an important place in the prominent sports papers and mostly-preferred internet sites. The historical and natural beauties of our country starting from the coastline of Izmir to that of Alanya were shown to the whole world with the four cameras on motorcycles an two on the helicopters.

Turkish Cyclists:
        Another Turkish team in the race, Brissaspor, had been in fierce competition with the experience of professional management but it was the first time that Turkish National Team raced against such powerful teams. Our racists had been eliminated at the very beginning of the tours as a result of staying behind of the time period of 15% even in races against comparatively weak teams. The race in the same tracks this year was far faster than those in previous years. The Turkish National Team successfully completed the tour with five racers except for one cyclist who had to leave he tour due to health problems. Although the cyclists weren’t able to take place in the tour, they could meet the expectations of those that believed in them. The Turkish National Team cyclists had increasing confidence as the race proceeded, thus proving what they were able to manage if they had the opportunities required.

Result:
        The 44th Presidential Cycling Tour differed from the preceding ones in a lot of aspects, most important of which was the unprecedented budget granted from The Fund of Advertisement. The great sum of the grant was assigned to a foreign and experienced media company to advertise the beauties of the country. Preparations had already been done and the plans were made in detail. The sponsor of the broadcasting in Turkey, TRT did their part in the preparations. Even though the delays during the preparations limited the number of participating professional teams, the problem was quickly overcome through close contacts with the branch of UCI that dealt with the professional teams. The race directorate arranged the scheme of race organization very successfully. In addition, the race director helped to bring the hundreds of kilos of equipment to our country by keeping in close contacts with the teams, transferred them effectively from one lap to the other. Along the whole tour, there weren’t any problems as to the safety of the cyclists, which is the most important criterion; the service of referring wasn’t of any matter. However, there were delays in announcement of the results only. There were a number of volunteers, some of whom left during the race while most of the former national cyclists and trainers worked hard to make it a better race. Among the positive sides, Turkish people had the chance to watch the live broadcast of an important cycling event at one hand and to get to know the natural and cultural richness of their country.

        Now it is high time to invest in the Turkish sportspeople, to expect success from them, and to provide whatever has been done for other teams in order to promote our success. If we can claim a success in this organization and to continue succeeding, it is a must that we give more importance to Turkish cycling events. Otherwise, as a former cyclist I propose that all that have been done so far will worth nothing but vain.

Feyzi AÇIKALIN

20.04.2008 - Stage 7: Antalya - Alanya (FINAL) , Race Log

        Soon after the start in Antalya, many attacks created a lot of action in the race. Mitsubishi-Jartazi was very active with Grégory Habeaux and Mathieu Criquiélion breaking clear but none of the sprinters’ teams agreed for the skirmishes to turn into a threatening breakaway.

        A crash occurred after 60 kilometers. It forced Alessandro Petacchi to stop for a while. The sprinter from Milram was already riding at the back because he felt sick. He made it back to the bunch a few kilometers further.

        An escapee was finally formed after the only hot spot sprint of the day (km 81): Dimitri Nikandrov (Centri della Calzatura-Partizan), Fabian Schaar (Team Ista), Herrero (Extremadura) quickly got 30 seconds advantage on a bunch led by the Benfica team. As the Portuguese didn’t receive any help, they stopped chasing and the gap moved up to 5 minutes. It went down to 2.48 with 46 km to go under the action of Silence-Lotto and Serramenti PVC-Diquigiovanni.

        The three breakaway riders got caught in the streets of Alanya with 10km to go. Petacchi chose to not contest the bunch sprint. There was a big crash 200 meters before the line. Danilo Hondo (Serramenti PVC-Diquigiovanni) and Sean Lacey (Ireland) were the most injured but no fracture was reported.

        Maximiliano Richeze (CSF-Navigare) won stage 7 ahead of Andre Schulze (PSK-Whirlpool) and Assan Bazayev (Astana). David Garcia Dapena (Karpin Galicia) is the final winner of the 44th Presidential Tour of Turkey.

 

19.04.2008 - Stage 6: Finike - Antalya, Race Log

        9 men took off after 12 kilometers: Rubens Bertogliati (Saunier Duval), Aitor Perez (Extremadura), Dominique Cornu (Silence-Lotto), Andrey Zeits (Astana), Danilo Hondo (Serramenti PVC-Diquigiovanni), Martin Mares (PSK Whirlpool), Sander Oostlander (Dutch national team), Mindaugas Striska (Mitsubishi-Jartazi), Der Zolt (Centri della Calzatura-Partizan).

        They got a maximum lead of three minutes but the teams Lampre and Milram didn’t repeat the same mistake as the day before. They rode hard early enough for bringing them back, which they did with 28 kilometers to go.

        Benoît Joachim (Astana), Manuel Belletti (Serramenti PVC-Diquigiovanni), Mirco Lorenzetto (Lampre) and Paul Van Schalen (Dutch national team) try to escape from the bunch with no success. Ruslan Ivanov (Serramenti PVC-Diquigiovanni), Enrique Salgueiro (Extremadura) and Nebojsa Jovanovic (Cosmote) had more luck. They created a gap of 8 seconds with 20km to go. They reached an advantage of 13 seconds but they got brought back with 10km to go.

        A bunch sprint was inevitable. Milram looked to control the situation until Astana and later CSF-Navigare took the first positions of the bunch. Matteo Priamo (CSF) tried to surprise the sprinters but Alberto Ongarato was prompt to take Alessandro Petacchi back onto him. Petacchi easily won the sprint with two length of a bike.

        David Garcia Dapena (Karpin-Galicia) maintained the yellow jersey.

 

18.04.2008 - Stage 5: Kalkan-Finike, Race Log

        Most of the 125 riders who started stage 5 in Kalkan were highly motivated for the early skirmishes but the head wind on the magnificent Mediterranean coast prevented them from going clear.

        An acceleration by Jakub Danacik (PSK-Whirlpool) and Nazareno Rossi (Serramenti PVC-Diquigiovanni) split the bunch in two parts. Sixty riders formed the first group. The first king of the mountains price at km 36.7 was dominated by the Saunier Duval of José Alberto Benitez who consolidated his lead in this classification as he passed in first position ahead of his team-mates David Cañada and Rubens Bertogliati. Very quickly after that, four riders formed a breakaway: Dries Devenyns (Silence-Lotto), Assan Bazayev (Astana), Gabriele Missaglia (Serramenti PVC-Diquigiovanni) and Matteo Priamo (CSF-Navigare). Ten kilometers further, they were reinforced by Gregory Rast (Astana), Josu Mondelo (Extremadura) and Francesco Reda (NGC Medical).

        At the second king of the mountains price (km 57), Priamo preceded Mondelo and Bazayev. The bunch back in one piece was 2.01 behind the seven leaders. Mondelo won the Turkish Beauty Sprint (km 73.8). Milram and Lampre decided to chase with the idea of getting a bunch sprint win for Alessandro Petacchi and Mirco Lorenzetto respectively. The gap went down to 1.22 just 23 kilometers before coming to Finike. It was 1.16 with 13.5km to go but still the same 3km from the finishing line.

        Priamo sprinted 150 meters before the line and kept an advantage of one length of a bike over Missaglia. The bunch finished 1.11 behind. Petacchi won the sprint for 8th place. David Garcia Dapena (Karpin-Galicia) stayed in the lead on GC.

 

17.04.2008 - Stage 4: Marmaris-Ölüdeniz, Race Log

        The peloton of the Presidential Tour of Turkey took some time to admire the fabulous vue on the bay of Marmaris but they quickly went for serious racing. After 15 kilometers, an escapee of eight riders took shape, comprising: David Cañada (Saunier Duval), Benoît Joachim (Astana), Rouslan Ivanov (Serramenti PVC-Diquigiovanni), Aïtor Perez (Extremadura), Vytautas Kaupas (Mitsubishi-Jartazi), Christoph Meschenmoser (Team Ista), Kuca Zanasca (Centri della Calzatura-Partizan) and Filippo Savini (CSF-Navigare).

        It was the right one. The Karpin-Galicia team of race leader David Garcia Dapena took care of the chase. The breakaway got a maximum lead of 7 minutes. With 53km to go, the gap went down to 5.42. At this stage, Benfica started giving a hand to Karpin-Galicia and the advantage of the leaders kept going down: 3.49 with 25km to go, 3.22 with 15km to go.

        The hot spot sprint in Fethiye with 13.2km to go was won by Kaupas in front of Perez and Zanasca. The bunch was located at 3.07. Ivanov attacked with 12km to go. Savini, Perez and Cañada followed him. Joachim couldn’t hold the pace in the climb. By himself, Savini went across to Ivanov and took the lead of the race on his own. He pursued his effort until he got a significant advantage for himself.

        At the top of the last climb with 4km to go, he was 29 seconds ahead of Zanasca who had overtaken Savini, Perez, Cañada and Joachim one after one. Savini increased his lead to 38 seconds in the downhill and won the stage by 45 seconds.

        Garcia Dapena finished in the bunch 2.13 behind Savini and kept the yellow jersey.

 

16.04.2008 - Stage 3: Bodrum-Marmaris, Race Log

        With many riders still bitter to have missed the winning breakaway the day before, stage 3 started on a very high tempo but nobody managed to go clear before the km 22. That’s where 14 riders created the escapee of the day: Francis De Greef and Pieter Jacobs (Silence-Lotto), Javier Benitez Roman Juan José Cobo Acebo (Saunier Duval), Gregory Rast (Astana), Gustavo Cesar-Veloso and David Garcia Dapena (Karpin-Galicia), Matteo Priamo (CSF-Navigare), Danail Petrov (Benfica), Gregory Habeaux (Mitsubishi-Jartazi), Ruslan Ivanov (Serramenti-PVC Diquigiovanni), Dimitri Nikandrov, Miguel Angel Rubiano Chavez and Luca Zanasca (Centri della Calzatura).

        The peloton accumulated a maximum delay of 4.50 at km 71. Rubiano Chavez passed in first position at the first King of the Mountain point (km 65.6). Garcia Dapena accelerated strongly for winning the second mountain price of the day (km 117.4). It created a split in the front group.

        Six riders followed him: Cesar Veloso, Benitez, Jacobs, Priamo, Rubiano Chavez and Zanasca. Rast managed to bridge the gap by himself in five kilometers. At the time, the peloton was situated 3.50 behind. Petrov and De Greef also rejoined the head of the race. With 27km to go, the peloton was at 5.11.

        In the last climb, with eight kilometers to go, Rubiano Chavez attacked and Priamo made the effort to accompany him. Quickly, one after each other, the two Karpin-Galicia riders Garcia Dapena then Cesar Veloso went across with 6km to go. In the sprint of four riders, Priamo was the fastest. The Italian won the stage ahead of Rubiano Chavez. Coming 3rd, Garcia Dapena, took the yellow jersey.

 

15.04.2008 - Stage 2: Kuşadası-Bodrum, Race Log

        After 20 kilometers, the main breakaway of the day was formed of Dries Devenyns and Pieter Jacobs (Silence-Lotto), José Alberto Benitez and David Cañada (Saunier Duval), David Loosli, Mirco Lorenzetto and Mauro Santambrogio (Lampre), Assan Bazayev (Astana), Josu Mondelo and Enrique Salgueiro (Extremadura), Tiziano Dall’Antonia (CSF), Piergiorgio Camussa and Alessio Signego (NGC Medical), Francesco Ginanni, Danilo Hondo and Gabriele Missaglia (Serramenti PVC-Diquigiovanni), José Azevedo and Danail Petrov (Benfica), Gustavo Cesar Veloso and David Garcia Dapena (Karpin-Galicia). Initially, Wim van Huffel (Silence-Lotto) was also with them but he had a flat tyre.

        With 60 kilometers to go, Team Milram finally decided to chase as the gap was 6.30. The team Centri della Calzatura-Partizan also came to the front of the peloton and their six men did all the work. With 50km to go, the advantage of the 20 leaders hadn’t decreased much: 6.15. Different teams succeeded to each other at the head of the peloton but no agreement between them was reached, so the gap never went under 5 minutes.

        With 27km to go, the advantage of the leaders even increased again to 6.30. In the finale, there were many attacks in the front. Hondo launched one of them. He was marked by Lorenzetto who also went away solo. The rider who stayed away the longest was Devenyns but he also got caught, so did Cesar Veloso and Azevedo but without any coordination.

        It went down to a bunch sprint. Dall’Antonia accelerated 800 meters before the line. Only Lorenzetto managed to pass him on the uphill cobblestones of Bodrum.

 

14.04.2008 - Stage 1: İzmir-Kuşadası, Race Log

        From the 148 starters, the Irish riders proved to be some of the most motivated for stage 1 in the Presidential Tour of Turkey. Peter Hawkins was the first man in action.

        The significant breakaway took shape with another member of the Irish national team Sean Lacey together with Josef Soukup (Sparta Praha) and Christoph Meschenmoser (Team Ista).

        At the sprint prime of km 83.4, Lacey was first ahead of Soukup and Meschenmoser. They had 5.25 lead at that point.

        Soukup became the king of the mountains when he passed in first position at km 98.2, preceding Meschenmoser, Lacey and Dimitri Nikandrov (Centri della Calzatura-Partizan) who was the first rider of the main bunch.

        Meschenmoser took the Turkish Beauty sprint in Ephesus with 18.5km to go. Soukup was second and Lacey third, but the peloton was coming closer and closer. Their adventure ended up just after that that sprint.

        In the final ten kilometers, Pierigiorgio Camussa (NGC Medical), Rubens Bertogliati (Saunier Duval) and Gustavo Cesar Veloso (Karpin-Galicia) tried their luck but the straight roads towards the end didn’t favor their initiative. They got caught with 6km to go as the Milram blue train led the charge.

        Vytautas Kaupas (Mitsubishi-Jartazi) also went away on his own. Many riders were active with 5km to go alongside the Aegean Sea. But it went down to a bunch sprint. Alessandro Petacchi was left alone by his team-mates from Milram with 250 meters to go. He led the sprint from far by himself. Ruben Bongiorno (CSF) almost overtook him on the line but the Italian was declared a winner while Javier Benitez (Benfica) from Spain took third place.

 

13.04.2008 - Grand Prix Istanbul, Race Log

        The race started on a very high speed with the winner of Le Tour de Langkawi Ruslan Ivanov (Serramenti PVC-Diquigiovanni) being the first man in action during the first of the 30 laps of 2.54 kilometers each.

        During the second lap, Ivanov was rejoined by Gustavo Cesar Veloso (Karpin-Galicia) and his team-mate Francesco Ginanni (Serramenti PVC-Diquigiovanni). A fourth man formed the first significant front group: Matteo Priamo (CSF-Navigare) while a crash split the bunch in the middle of the fourth lap.
Ivanov got dropped from the leading group and was replaced by David Garcia Dapena (Karpin-Galicia) and Gregory Rast (Astana) who felt as good on the cobblestones of Istanbul as on those of the Tour of Flanders where he finished 13th one week before.

        After six laps, the breakaway comprised five riders: Ginanni, Priamo, Cesar Veloso, Garcia Dapena and Rast. After nine laps, the bunch led by Silence-Lotto’s Nick Gates was just one minute down with many riders pulling out due to the high speed of the race. Two riders went in between the breakaway and the bunch: Gabriele Missaglia (Serramenti PVC-Diquigiovanni) and Miguel Angel Rubiano Chavez (Partizan).

        Just after half way, Missaglia and Rubiano caught up with the leaders with 14 laps to go. The gap between the six men away and the bunch remained around one minute. With 10 laps to go, it was exactly 1.12.

        A maximum lead gap was reached with 2.13 with 6 laps to go. Francesco Reda (NGC Medical) launched a counter-attack by himself with 5 laps to go. But the seven leaders didn’t have to fear the return of anybody. Missaglia and Priamo got dropped for a little while but they got back on and it was a sprint between them for the win.

        Rast accelerated after the last curve. He had enough power for preventing Ginanni and Garcia Dapena from overtaking him. They crossed the line in that order: 1. Rast, 2. Ginanni, 3. Garcia Dapena.

10.04.2008 - Beginning to Presidential Cycling Tour...

Feyzi AÇIKALIN

        Presidential Cycling Tour, which is the prestige race of Turkish Cycling, is going to be realized 44th time. Presidential Cycling Tour, since the first time organized internationally in the name of Marmara Cycling Tour, have become an organization that all the federations wanted to successfully effectuate. Not only the participation of qualified athletes but also the success in the management of the organization are seen as a reflection of the progression of cycling as a sport country-wide...

        The tour which is going to be organized this year is different from the others in a wide selection of fields. Classement of the race has been shifted to 2.2 from 2.1. Therefore professional and professional continental teams are motivated to join. Second most important change is that the last 2 hours of all the stages of the race are going to be broadcasted live..

Professional teams:
        Some of the most famous professionals, Silence-Lotto, Saunier Duval Scott, Team Milram, Lampe, Astana are the teams which color this year’s tour. Milram’s world-famous sprinter Alessandro Petacchi and Astana’s leader, the second of French Tour German Andreas Klöden are the two stars of the tour. Despite the stars, it is possible that another star candidate who is successful in climbing up the hills wins.. Together with 8 professional continental teams consisting of young and promising athletes, 9 continental teams and 3 national teams (Netherlands, Ireland and Turkey), there is going to be 25 participants in total. . Different from 2.2 category, in the 2.1 category club teams are not able to participate the races. In the previous years, most of the participants were from surrounding friendly nations. Depending on shifted category, participating teams with more professional organizational demands make things harder for organizators...

Professional organization:
        Presidential Cycling Tour is organized professionally the first time and broadcasted in the media. With the financial support of Prime Ministry Publicity Fund, Austrian - German partnership Plazamedia Production Company assumed the recording of the tour. After the preperations which have take months, Production Company investigated the race course and planned the broadcasting. Special helicopters and motorcycles are going to be taken from abroad and used in the broadcasting. Depending on the lenght of the stages and the demands of European nations where the race is going to be broadcasted live, live broadcasting lenght is going to change. For instance, while some short stages are given as a whole, last 2 hours of most of the stages will be broadcasted live. Target audience of live broadcast are determined to be German-speaking countries, Scandinavian countries and Russia. Broadcastings are going to begin at around 16:00. TRT, one of the broadcasting sponsor of the race, is going to broadcast the organization live everyday.

Sports in Publicity:
        Naturally, race course being professionally displayed through the medium of a helicopter makes cycling sport privilaged for country publicity. At the times that huge funds take place on the touristic, natural and historical places’ publicity is widely known, a broadcast of approximately 2 hours, being recorded mostly from the air, becomes even more important.. Recording of the race is going to be started on 13th April, Sunday at 11.00 a.m. on the heart of Istanbul, Sultanahmet field. The next days, antic cities of Efes, Side, Aspendos ; all the touristic cities of Aegean and Mediteranean Regions; natural beauties like Ölüdeniz (Blue Lagoon) and Dalyan and ruins of Lycia Civilization will be broadcasted. Finally the last stage Alanya is going to be broadcasted on 20th April, Sunday.

Publicity of sports through the mediation of television:
        Road cycling is only known for lonely people’s sport unless it is broadcasted. The only impression that the audience have in their minds is the finish point. Displaying the efforts given for kilometers and broadcasting it live is the biggest respect for the athletes’s pains. A professional record and skillfully expression of the race to the audience makes the sports’ difficulties and beauty more understandable. Therefore sports becomes known, and people emulate to cycling sport. At least, it makes the companies which can provide support to sports see how easily it is to exhibit their products and services on the television. Motivates them to invest on this issue in future. Moreover,it provides sample records for ones who are willing to find sponsors. It is beneficial for all these issues to record and broadcast Presidential Cycling Tour professionally.

Its benefit for Turkish Cycling Sportsmans:
        The possible benefits of that kind of professional organization for Turkish cycling athletes is interrogated by some old trainers, rides and administrators. The ones who participated in organizations which are actualized using big funds of federation and the ones who did not negotiated this in prior years, bring up this issue as a opposing focus. But the situation is different... It is obvious that Turkish cycling have grown up important champions and organized successful races but its fame and reliabilty on UCI is moved to different dimensions depending on the new federation. For instance, professional cycling world have not forgotten the organization which is planned to be named Turkish Riviera Tour and ended in a fiasco in 2002. In this situation, a tour that is planned perfectly in high level templetes and standarts, should be accepted as a means of proud for Turkish cycling sport. In terms of the benefits for the riders, as do all sports, cycling basicly develops providing infrastructure, namely as the athletes are supported. There also is a superstructure. Athletes proud of being a part of a big organizations. Even if s/he cannot participate, a race which resembles the other races which s/he watches through foreign TV channels may motivate him/her for the prospective successes, emulate him/her to the big champions. Bu In this case, benefits of the broadcasting the race live will be understood more in future.

Expected difficulties:
        Throughout the 8 race day, 650 people are going to be moved from one settlement to another. Everyone may have problems. The race is going to be the most crowded and speedy race which is organized in our country so far. Therefore, a coordinated work of all the staff is needed at the time of the race. Unfortunately our road pavements are not like the roads of European level. Some problems may occur especially in the stages where the athletes expected to ride fast. Again, on the finish area, road pavement quality may surprise us. Because the race is going to be broadcasted live, all the factors including natural factors are important issues.

Best wishes for everyone of being successul in organization...

Feyzi AÇIKALIN

18.03.2008 - Meeting with Local Authorities and Federation

        From Turkish Cycling Federation the President, Emin MÜFTÜOĞLU and the General Secretary, Bekir GEZER are going to meet and talk over the Tour of Turkey with local authorities that are on the route of the Tour of Turkey. These meetings are going to help being organised between organisation committee and local authorities to arrange the organisation perfectly.

10.03.2008 - PLAZAMEDIA is on "Site Survey"

        As the media partner of Presidential Tour of Turkey, Plazamedia is investigating the Route of the race step by step for a week. This investigation is going to make the quality of organisation raise and it will enable to see some imperfections about the Route as well. This survey will continue for a week and Plazamedia will have exemined the Route so detailed, at the end of this survey.