"The last kilometre was so hard" - Ben Zwiehoff second on 'hardest mountain of the season' at the Tour of Turkey

The 2023 Tour of Turkey took on its Queen Stage on Tuesday, a stage which featured the 'hardest mountain of the season' as the riders tackled the brutal Badabag.

Second on the day behind stage winner Alexey Lutsenko was BORA - hansgrohe's Ben Zwiehoff. "I gave all I could after such a long season. The whole team did a super job; we pulled off our plan perfectly," the 29-year-old German reflected to his team's official website in a post-stage interview. "Of course, it's a shame that I couldn't win, but it was Lutsenko. He knows how to do it. The last kilometre was so hard - if you make a mistake, like I did with my early attack, then it doesn't get any easier."

The brutal ascent of the Badabag lived up to all the pre-stage hype with the 18km climb absolutely obliterating the field. The infernal slopes made climbs such as the Angliru and Mont Ventoux and the Zoncolan pale in comparison.

"Of course we would have liked to win, but second and fourth is a great result. I am very happy for Ben and Lipo, (Florian Lipowitz)," said BORA - hansgrohe sports director Bernie Eisel post-stage. "Lipo thinks that he is missing a little bit to the 100% form - but he fought impressively. Ben was world class and only had to admit defeat to the old hand Lutsenko. Our tactics worked - we made the race a hard one with the entire team."