Benzema P23 makes Real click: Zidane SPORTS 2424 Friday, February 17, 2017

Hermans retains overall lead Quriyat BMC Racing set tempo on the enmark’s Soren Kragh Andersen won front of the peloton. the third stage of the Tour of Oman At the summit of Bousher Dyesterday as Belgian Ben Hermans retained Al Amerat it was Kuboki who the overall lead. took the maximum number of Andersen edged out former world climbing points, but a slight champion on the uphill finish at headwind after the climb began Quriyat at the end of the 162km run, with hamper the leaders. Hermans, winner of Wednesday’s second With Katusha and Astana stage, in third. shuttling to the front to help with Other contenders for the overall victory the chase, the gap immediately including Frenchman , began to drop with the six out front second at last year’s , and seeing their advantage reduced to 2015 Vuelta a Espana winner of 2:15 with 50 kilometres still to race. , finished in the top 10 in the same time The final ascent may have been as Andersen. The stage had been marked shallower in pitch than what the riders by a six-man break that formed in the early were faced with on stage 2, but the kilometres after a frantic start. sprint into the final climb on stage Matthew Brammeier (Aqua Blue Sport), 3 was nothing but frenetic as teams Chun Kai Feng (Bahrain Merida), Bert Van looked to position their climbers as Lerberghe (Sport Vlaanderen – Baloise), close to the front as possible. That Gavin Mannion (UnitedHealthcare), surge was enough to reel in the break Kazushige Kuboki (Nippo - Vini Fantini), with 15 kilometres remaining. and Frantisek Sisr (CCC Sprandi Polkowice) Friday’s fourth stage is a hilly all made it into the move with the group 118km that finishes on the flat but establishing a 3:45 lead after 25 kilometres the overall winner should be decided of racing. on Saturday’s Queen stage with it’s As the race wound towards the coast and finish on The Green Mountain, a the sun broke through the cloud cover, the 5.7km climb with an average 10.5 gap extended to just over four minutes as percent gradient. (Agencies)

Denmark’s Kragh Soren Andersen (R) from Team Sunweb takes the lead Results Rider Name (country) Team 1) Søren Kragh Andersen (Den) Team Sunweb 3:53:11 UCI postpones 2017 Tour of Turkey 2) Rui Costa (Por) Team UAE 3) Ben Hermans (Bel) BMC Racing Team Istanbul Cavendish of Britain and Germany’s head of Turkey’s cycling federation Erol 4) Laurens De Plus (Bel) Quick-Step Floors ycling’s governing body has Andre Greipel. Kucukbakirci told state media earlier 5) Jakob Fuglsang (Den) Astana Pro Team Cpostponed the 2017 Tour of Turkey The UCI said in a statement late on this month he had asked the UCI for a 6) (Spa) Quick-Step Floors that was scheduled for April, reportedly Wednesday that “the 2017 edition of the delay until October due to the congested 7) Romain Bardet (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale after clashes with other races and the Presidential Cycling Tour of Turkey has cycling schedule. 8) (Eri) Dimension Data security situation prompted minimal been postponed from its scheduled date The Tour of Turkey traces its history 9) Fabio Aru (Ita) Astana Pro Team 0:00:04 interest from teams. in April”. back to the early 1960s but this was the The Tour of Turkey, which takes place “A revised date for the event in first time it was to be held as an elite 10) Lachlan Morton (Aus) Dimension Data under the auspices of Turkish President the UCI World Tour calendar will be UCI World Tour race. Cycling News said 11) Tsgabu Grmay (Eth) Bahrain-Merida Recep Tayyip Erdogan, is an annual event considered at the next meeting of the the 18-23 April race dates clashed with and Turkey’s premier cycling race of Professional Cycling Council (PCC), major one-day Spring Classics in Belgium the year. It has recently attracted some which is scheduled for March.” including La Fleche Wallonne on April 19 top names including sprint stars Mark It did not give further details. But the and Liege-Bastogne-Liege on April 23.

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