Alexey Lutsenko takes victory on stage 3 of the Tour of Turkey atop one of the most brutal final climbs ever seen!

Alexey Lutsenko has taken the win on stage 3, the Queen Stage of the 2023 Tour of Turkey following a brutally steep final climb that destroyed the field.

A short, sharp day of racing, stage 3 was just 104km in length but plenty of steep climbing and dangerous descending ensured there would be plenty of action.

Just as the race reached 18km to go and the foot of the final climb, the day's breakaway was swallowed up giving the peloton the front of the race. A counter-attack then followed by Alexis Guerin and he quickly extended his lead.

The Frenchman's decision to attack at the foot of the climb looked to have been a masterstroke as the chase group led by BORA - hansgrohe thinned with even the likes of Jay Vine unable to hold the wheel.

With 10km to go, Guerin himself had been caught and passed just four riders up front, two of BORA - hansgrohe and two of the Astana Qazaqstan Team.

Only Ben Zwiehoff, Harold Tejada and Alexey Lutsenko remained, entering the final 3km.

An acceleration from Zwiehoff saw off one of his rivals as Tejada began to struggle but Lutsenko held on and with 500 or so metres to go, the Kazakh national champion made his move.