Cycling: Tour of Turkey to start in April

Cycling: Tour of Turkey to start in April

55th cycling tour of Turkey will be held on its renewed route between 16-21 April

By Fatih Erel

ISTANBUL (AA) - The 55th edition of the Presidential Cycling Tour of Turkey will be held on April 16-21, as a part of the “UCI World Tour” calendar for the third time.

Organized by the Turkish Cycling Federation, the Presidential Cycling Tour of Turkey debuted in 1963 and became an international race two years later.

Started in 1963 as "Tour of Marmara", this year's tour will follow a similar "Nostalgic" route to its first edition.

"We decided to move this great cycling event to the different regions of our country," Erol Kucukbakirci, the president of the Turkish Cycling Federation, said in a statement on Friday.

As one of Turkey's most prestigious worldwide sporting events, the 55th edition of the Presidential Cycling Tour of Turkey will make a new start this year with its new slot in April on “UCI World Tour” calendar.

Kucukbakirci said that the new date and renewed route will render the Tour "more appealing."

He said after a break of two years we are back with a race which can be considered as mid-season as announced in the UCI approved 2019 World Tour Calendar. "At the end of the season the teams and the riders were quite tired," he added.

"With the date change, we aim for higher quality and a higher participation rate," Kucukbakirci said.

He said, in recent years, most of the stages in the Tour were used to be organized along the Mediterranean and Aegean coasts, but following the strong demand from various provinces of Turkey they decided to move the race to different parts of the country in order to promote historical and natural richness of these regions through cycling.

He also announced that to realize this new practice in the next year, the organization will be held in the Marmara region in 2019.

Teams departing from Istanbul will head to Tekirdag, Eceabat, Canakkale, Edremit, Balikesir, Bursa, Sakarya and will see the ultimate finish again in Istanbul.

"For the forthcoming year. we are working on a route that will cross our Black Sea region and finish in the capital Ankara," Kucukbakirci said.

Comprising from six new stages, the Tour 2019 will be held along a route that exceeds a thousand of kilometers on which world-class teams and ace riders will be crossing the continents at Canakkale, from Europe to Asia.

With its new stages that will follow a course through the Gallipoli Peninsula and Dardanelles, the nations engaged in the Gallipoli Campaign (1915-1916) will be welcoming each other by the virtues of this great sport event to promote the peace.

Stages of the Tour 2019:

April 16: Istanbul-Tekirdag (150 km)

April 17: Tekirdag-Eceabat (180 km)

April 18: Canakkale-Edremit (155 km)

April 19: Balikesir-Bursa (185 km)

April 20: Bursa-Kartepe (170 km)

April 21: Sakarya-Istanbul (165 km)

Total distance: 1,005 km

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