First PRO victory with Team Polti Kometa for Lonardi, new leader of the Tour of Türkiye

A fantastic Team Polti Kometa in the third stage of Tour of Türkiye. Paul Double, Erik Fetter and Diego Sevilla they controlled the race and helped capture two breakaways. In the last descent towards Marmaris, Andrea Pietrobon, Mirco Maestri and Manuel Peñalver led Giovanni Lonardi perfectly. While the Veronese runner launched himself into the sprint, only a clear deviation to the left by Van Poppel prevented him from crossing the finish line first.

The jury noticed the irregularity and declared Lonardi the winner. It is his fourth career victory in professional races, the first with Polti Kometa (second overall victory with this Italian ProTeam, after the 2022 Valencian Classic which was a 1.2 event) and now he is also the new leader of the general classification. “I’m thrilled, I’ve been looking for this so much! – says Lonardi after the podium ceremony – After two placings, a fair reward for me and my teammates. I think my opponent’s disqualification was fair, I had the legs to overcome him and he shut me down.”

This was the satisfaction of the sports director Giovanni Ellena: “This was our best performance so far at the Tour of Turkey, and it was beautiful despite the beautiful final result. Superior!“