The award ceremony was held in the 57th Presidential Cycling Tour of Turkey (Tour of Turkey).
Organized by the Turkish Cycling Federation under the auspices of the Presidency, the Istanbul-Istanbul stage, which will be held on the 8th day of the Tour of Turkey, was canceled at the 25th kilometer at the request of the team coordinators and the athletes due to the worsening of the weather conditions and the increased risk of accident.
In the stage, which started in front of the Atatürk Cultural Center in Taksim, the athletes completed the course in a neutralized manner starting from Kuzguncuk and in a controlled manner without any struggle. The award ceremony of the tour was held in front of Atatürk Cultural Center.
Patrick Bevin of New Zealand from Israel-Premier Tech finished the tour as the overall leader and won the turquoise jersey. Australian Jay Vine from Alpecin-Fenix team finished second and Argentina’s Eduardo Sepulveda from Italy’s Drone Hopper-Androni Giocattoli team finished third.
The green jersey worn by the Belgian Jasper Philipsen sprint leader from Belgium’s Alpecin-Fenix team, the red jersey worn by the best climber by Noah Granigan from the USA Wildlife Generation Pro team, and the Turkish beauties swimsuit (White) by Batuhan Özgür from Sakarya Metropolitan Municipality.
In the teams classification, Spain’s Equipo Kern Pharma won the championship.
Vice President Fuat Oktay presented the medals to the athletes who ranked in the general classification. Equipo Kern Pharma, who came first in the team classification, received the cup from the Minister of Youth and Sports, Mehmet Muharrem Kasapoğlu. Minister Kasapoğlu wore his uniform at Jasper Philipsen.
The white jersey of Batuhan Özgür was given to Ali Yerlikaya, the Governor of Istanbul, and Mahmut Kazan, General Manager of Presidential Support and Financial Services, to Noah Granigan. President of Turkish Cycling Federation Emin Müftüoğlu presented a plaque to Oktay and Kasapoğlu symbolizing the tour in memory of the day.
MINISTER OF YOUTH AND SPORTS DR. EXPLANATIONS FROM MEHMET MUHARREM KASAPOĞLU
Minister of Youth and Sports Dr. Mehmet Muharrem Kasapoğlu, in a statement before the award ceremony, said, “The 57th Presidential Cycling Tour of Turkey is being completed today. It started in Bodrum last week and is being completed today in Taksim Square, including many beautiful stages, including the 1915 Çanakkale Bridge. 25 different teams, 175 athletes. They traveled approximately 1303 kilometers. The unique beauties and nature of our country were revealed. Today, it is being completed in Istanbul, the most beautiful city in the world. Bicycle branch has become a sport branch in which interest is increasing day by day in our country. With this, studies are increasing. moves bear fruit in the international arena. Cycling is also an exciting sport in this sense. Our country is very suitable for this sport due to its infrastructure, geographical features and climate. We have completed Turkey’s first olympic velodrome. It is an excellent facility to compete with the most important centers in the world. In the coming days We will inaugurate a bicycle preparation camp like Spain. There are countries where they are concentrated. I now invite the athletes to camp in Turkey. All of our infrastructure has been completed. I followed the Manisa stage. The interest of sports fans and young people in sports made me very happy. As in every branch, we have made important strides in achieving greater success in cycling. I believe that in the coming period, we will both raise the bar for the widespread use of bicycles and increase our medals in bicycles,” he said.
“ISTANBUL WILL CONTINUE TO CARRY INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS”
Minister Kasapoğlu stated that Istanbul will continue to organize international organizations, as it does all over Turkey, and said, “Despite the pandemic, we hosted 164 different international organizations last year. We continue this at full speed. Islamic Solidarity Games in Konya next month.” We will organize the World Nomad Games in Bursa-İznik. Our country is a brand in sports tourism and we will continue to strengthen this brand. We have a huge infrastructure with winter sports, water sports, extreme sports and gymnasium sports that we spread to all provinces, not just a few. “The volleyball championship will be held in Ankara in the coming months. Yesterday we introduced one of the prestigious tennis organizations in Istanbul. It will be held at our tennis base in İstinye, which we put into service in the past days. We will host the world’s important tennis players. We will continue our projects to spread sports and sports to the public,” he said.
“CONGRATULATIONS TO COMPETITORS AND WINNERS”
Emphasizing that the ‘No one can swim’ project is very important, Minister Kasapoğlu said, “We will continue our assertion in every field with basketball, football, wrestling and archery. Discovering talents is very important. We do not leave this to chance anymore. We will promote this with our Minister of National Education. The new sports high schools that we have started in the past days. We will manage our schools together and all our facilities will be at the disposal of our sports high schools. We will go a long way in combining sports with education. I congratulate everyone who contributed to this meaningful organization. I greet all our citizens who show interest. I congratulate our federation, our ministry. “I would like to express my gratitude for this organization under the auspices of our Presidency. I congratulate the racers and the winners.”
Noting that the organization was very enjoyable, Minister Kasapoğlu said, “Istanbul actually has a nice atmosphere today. I just talked to the president of the federation. They said that the racers came slowly and enjoyed Istanbul.”