Tour of Antalya: Rekita takes the win and becomes race leader

With just one day to go at the Tour of Antalya, things are looking great for Leopard Pro Cycling. On the third day, Szymon Rekita took a solo win up the Termessos climb, finishing off great teamwork. On the final day, the team defends a nine seconds lead to the runner-up in the GC.

In the first two days, the results for Leopard Pro Cycling were already improving. After sprinting to tenth on the opening day and finishing fifth in stage two, the morale and self-confidence heading into this important day were already quite good. Altough the queen stage was only 92 kilometers long, the final kilometers went uphill, giving the climbers of the team a chance for glory. Beforehand, the strategy was clear and when a group of 21 riders went away, Leopard Pro Cycling had Alexander Krieger, Szymon Rekita and Jack Burke in it. This perfect race situation became even better when Szymon attacked on the final climb. He was able to create and maintain the gap, so he could cross the line solo. Besides being the new race leader, Szymon Rekita is also leader in the mountains classification, whereas Leopard Pro Cycling leads the team ranking.

Markus Zingen, Team Manager: "We are all super happy and proud after Szymon's win today. Before the stage, we knew that we had a strong team and we believed in our capabilities, although winning is never easy, especially in a race with many good teams and riders like at Tour of Antalya. Our plan of making the race hard worked out well by being present in the front group. This was the ideal scenario and when Szymon went with 5 kilometers to go we could only cross our fingers. We are looking forward to the final stage and we hope to bring the leader jersey home."

GC Tour of Anatalya (UCI 2.2) after Stage 3
1. Szymon Rekita (POL)
14. Jack Burke (CAN) + 0'39"
17. Jan Maas (NET) + 0'50"
71. Alexander Krieger (GER) + 4'33"
113. Konrad Gessner (GER) + 9'42"

Pictures: (c) Elisa Haumesser & VeloImages