Wout Poels in peak form into Giro d'Italia after Tour of Turkey triumph: "My goal? I hope to win a stage"

XDS Astana Team made the trip over to Turkey for the week and it proved to be an absolute success. A ton of UCI points have entered the Kazakh team's tally, who have won four out of the eight stages and finished both first and second in the overall classification.

On the final day, it was Matteo Malucelli who became the team's fourth rider to raise his arms this week. “There were not many chances for the sprinters and we also had the leader in our team”, the Italian shared in a post-race interview. “So I also had to ride in service of my teammates, but I tried to save as much energy as possible during the race. I know that after a week of racing, it is also about freshness.”

And on stage 8, the sprinter proved to have fresh legs and sprinted to his second win of the year, a perfect way to wrap a week of racing where Astana was wildly successful and have further bolstered their chances of remaining in the World Tour for next season.

“In the sprint on Saturday I started from too far, today I did everything right. Did I have confidence in the victory? Yes, I know that Alexander Kristoff benefits from a long sprint. So I tried to follow him in the run-up to the sprint. The plan was actually to anticipate, but the wind was again at a disadvantage," he explains. However, in the end he was clearly the fastest to the line, and pulled off a stylish 'Hulk' celebration alongside his victory.

"So it was a matter of waiting, waiting and waiting some more. That's also my way of sprinting. It doesn't always work out, but today it did. This is my second victory of the season, after a victory in the Tour of Hainan. Last year I won ten races. I'm not the youngest anymore. It took me ten years before I could make the step to a WorldTour team. Now I'm finally racing at WorldTour level and I want to show that I'm worth it.

The team also confirmed the overall win with Wout Poels who had previously won the queen stage of the race. “This is really great. I knew I was in good shape, but to win a final classification, that is always special. The team rode very well again today.”

“We also won the stage. That is the icing on the cake. The atmosphere within the group was also very good last week. Everyone did their bit and worked hard. The staff members too. It is nice to finish it off.”

“Today we were lucky that more teams wanted to push for a sprint. So we did not have to ride at the front much. This is not a preparation race for the Giro, but a prelude to the Giro d'Italia," he concluded. "I am heading to the Giro with a lot of self-confidence. My goal? I hope to win a stage.”