Turkey was preparing itself for what is one of the country's most prestigious cycling races this week, but on the 5th of February tragedy as struck as a 7.8 earthquake struck southern Turkey, with the region where the Tour of Antalya was set to be raced being heavily affected.
The race was set to take place between the 9th and 12th of February and had gathered a prestigious set of World Tour teams and riders including Arnaud Démare. All the preparations were ready but the organizers have announced this morning that it would not be possible to run the event under such conditions. As the country's resources go into helping victims of the disaster, it would not be viable or ethical to divert resources into the event, which was won by Uno-X Pro Cycling Team's Jacob Hindsgaul last season.
Not only was the region struck by a 7.8 earthquake in the Richter scale, but aftershocks have reached similar numbers the following hours. Turkey was not the only nation affected, with Syria reported to have suffered big casualties aswell. The shaking was reported over other countries in the Middle East such as Lebanon, Israel, Palestine and even Egypt. It is early to access the number of victims but it is given with certainty that it is already over the 1000 mark. International assistance has already been requested for the emergency.
CyclingUpToDate would like to extend it's condolences to all those affected by the tragedy.
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