UPDATE: Giovanni Lonardi awarded stage 3 win at 2024 Tour of Turkey following Danny van Poppel relegation
Cycling
Danny van Poppel took initial victory on stage 3 of the 2024 Tour of Turkey, prevailing in a bunch sprint finale ahead of Giovanni Lonardi and Enrico Zanoncello. After review from race jury however, the BORA - hansgrohe man was adjudged to have deviated from his sprinting line, with Lonardi being bumped up to stage winner.
After a big fight for the breakaway over the first hour of racing, four riders eventually went clear to form the day's lead group. Despite their lead looking considerable at one point, with just under 15km to go, the race was all back together at the front.
Due to the pace of the peloton on the climbs however, many riders were struggling at the back, including many of the sprinters, meaning the expected sprint finale was by no means a certainty, at least not with some of the bigger names.
Astana Qazaqstan Team, who won stage 2 through Max Kanter, were looking to take control of the peloton once again, but into the final kilometre, it was BORA - hansgrohe who were best positioned. Danny van Poppel opened up and powered to victory but there was some controversy in the finale as Giovanni Lonardi visibly protested.
The race jury listened to those protests too, as van Poppel was relegated for deviating from his sprinting line and Lonardi awarded the stage win. See the video of the finale down below and judge for yourself!
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That's a rare thing to happened in cycling. What a rookie mistake
They make the sprint finishes in the middle of the corner and then are surprised that the guys go crazy blocking others in the sprint...
It was a really dumb decision by the race organizers to put the finish line on a curve in the road, but it was the right decision to relegate van Poppel as he definitely deviated from his line and cut off Lonardi.
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