Casper Van Uden wins Tour of Turkey stage 5, gives Picnic PostNL first victory of the season

Casper van Uden won stage five of the Tour of Turkey, delivering Picnic PostNL their first victory of the season. In a reduced bunch sprint, Van Uden was the convincing winner after a textbook leadout from his team. Race leader Iván Sosa briefly hit trouble on the final climb, but held on to his leader's jersey.

That the stage came down to a sprint at all was down to the sprinters' teams. The day's route included around 17 kilometres of climbing, with the summit of the final ascent sitting 40 kilometres from the finish — a serious test for any pure sprinter. After two stage wins for Tom Crabbe (Team Flanders-Baloise) and a sprint victory for Stanisław Aniołkowski (Cofidis) on Wednesday, there was work to do.

With the outcome on a knife-edge for the sprinters, attacks flew from the gun. Tim Marsman tried his luck for Alpecin-Premier Tech, among others, but nothing stuck. The peloton stayed together through the bonus sprint, allowing the GC riders to grab a few extra seconds — Henok Mulubrhan taking three, Alessandro Fancellu two, and Jordan Jegat one. After the intermediate sprint, the pace dropped and a group of ten riders escaped, including Dutchmen Owen Gelijn (Unibet Rose Rockets) and Timo de Jong (Picnic PostNL).

The breakaway never built a comfortable gap. On the final ascent, TotalEnergies drove the pace hard and blew the ten-man group apart. A strong-looking Nicolas Breuillard attacked for the French team, briefly putting race leader Iván Sosa (Equipo Kern Pharma) in difficulty. His rivals sensed blood.

By the summit, the peloton had been whittled down to around 25 riders. But after the top the pace softened, and Sosa was able to claw his way back. The damage was done for many of the sprinters, though — Crabbe and Aniołkowski were both dropped on the climb, as were Alpecin-Premier Tech's Sente Sentjes and Simon Dehairs.

That opened the door for Van Uden. The Dutchman had come over the climb in good shape, with his full sprint train intact. He was delivered to the line in perfect position, with Davide Ballerini (Astana) on his wheel. Van Uden had the legs when it mattered — and Picnic PostNL had their first win of 2026.

This was a fine win, made all the more significant by how it was achieved. Van Uden was one of only a handful of top sprinters to survive the climb. That bodes well for the Giro d'Italia, which he will ride again in May. He won a stage there last year — and there is no reason he cannot do it again. Thursday was a sign that Picnic PostNL will be going there with a plan.

Van Uden was happy with the result, but more with the manner of it. "The first few days were a bit tough. I've had quite a few crashes already this year, so I needed to find my rhythm. But the guys and the team kept believing in me, and today I could show what I'm capable of. It's great to be able to reward that trust and all the hard work."

He was quick to credit the team, but it was his legs that ultimately settled it. "The whole leadout was really good today and we all came over the climbs together in the front group. We keep learning and trying to improve, but I think we're on the right track and we hope to carry that forward."