Iván Sosa takes first win since 2022 with early attack at Tour of Turkey stage 3

Stage three of the Tour of Turkey has been won by Iván Sosa. The Colombian attacked early on the final climb and held on to beat Sebastian Berwick by the narrowest of margins. With the victory, Sosa also took the leader's jersey from Tom Crabbé.

Crabbé won stages one and two, establishing himself as one of the revelations of the spring. The young Belgian showed his pace again in Turkey to lead the race after two days. But a tough mountain stage was always going to be a different proposition.

The day featured 133 kilometres and more than 3,000 metres of climbing, finishing at the summit of the Kiran — an HC-rated climb. The designation is well earned: at nine kilometres averaging nearly 10%, the potential for big time gaps was clear.

Many riders wanted to start the final climb with a lead, making the fight for the day's break fiercely competitive. It took until after 30 kilometres for three riders to get clear. Jonas Rickaert (Alpecin-Premier Tech) was the most recognisable name, joined by continental riders Rudolf Remkhi (Muğla Büyükşehir Belediyesi) and Mustafa Tekin (Spor Toto).

On the first climb of the day, Remkhi proved the strongest of the three. The former Astana rider dropped his companions and rode more than two minutes clear of the peloton, where Caja Rural were driving the pace. However, Remkhi suffered cramps and was caught with 40 kilometres remaining.

On the descent towards the final climb, the battle for position in the peloton intensified. Caja Rural were manoeuvring, while Picnic PostNL also moved to the front. Luca Colnaghi (Bardiani) even tried to launch a solo move to start the final climb with a gap, but was swept up by an accelerating peloton.

On the climb itself, the first attack came from the Cofidis camp. Sergio Samitier hit out from the opening metres, while TotalEnergies set the pace in the bunch. When Samitier was brought back, the door at the back of the peloton was already wide open — Geoffrey Bouchard's scorching pace had shredded the field.

Iván Sosa (Equipo Kern Pharma), alongside Kamiel Bonneu (Solution Tech Nippo), launched the first genuine acceleration with 4.5 kilometres to go. Sosa shed Bonneu almost immediately. Behind him, Alessandro Fancellu (MBH Bank) tried to close the gap.

The Italian never got close to an unleashed Sosa. Nicolas Breuillard (TotalEnergies) and Sebastian Berwick (Caja Rural) joined the chase, and Berwick came agonisingly close in the final metres, but just too late. Sosa won by barely ten seconds, his first victory since 2022.