The winning streak of wonderkid Crabbe continues with victory in opening stage of Tour of Turkey

The opening stage of the Tour of Turkey has been won by Tom Crabbe. The young Belgian from Flanders–Baloise came out on top in a chaotic sprint finish, beating Simon Dehairs (Alpecin-Premier Tech) and Davide Persico (MBH Bank CSB Telecom Fort) to take the leader's jersey. It is the 20-year-old's third win of the season.

Is the Tour of Turkey a fan favourite? It remains a fine race — and one with a strong Dutch pedigree. The last two editions were won by Dutch riders: in 2024, Frank van den Broek claimed a stage win and the overall title for his first professional victories, before Wout Poels succeeded him the following year. The chances of another Dutch winner in 2026 look a little slimmer.

The race opened with a flat stage, drawing a range of fast men to the start: Casper van Uden (Picnic PostNL), Simon Dehairs (Alpecin-Premier Tech) and Belgian talent Tom Crabbe (Flanders–Baloise) among them. In the early part of the stage, a four-rider break was allowed to go.

One of them was Mewael Girmay — yes, the younger brother of Biniam Girmay. The 21-year-old Eritrean, riding for the continental Istanbul Team, seized the opportunity to make his mark. He was joined in the break by Turks Ahmet Can Akpinar and Halil Ibrahim Dogan (both Konya Büyüksehir Belediye Spor), Kaan Soylu Ozkalbim (Spor Toto) and Pole Michal Pomorski (ATT Investments).

The only mountain sprint of the day went to Pomorski, keeping Girmay out of the mountains jersey. After that, the stage played out on flat terrain as the peloton kept things under control. The break's four-minute lead stopped growing, and by halfway through the race it had begun to shrink. With the escapees not considered a threat, they were allowed to stay clear for a while longer.

With 20 kilometres to go, the leaders still had a comfortable minute in hand — but the moment the sprint teams assembled their lead-out trains, the gap tumbled. The last surviving breakaway riders were caught with 8 kilometres remaining. Picnic PostNL committed to Van Uden, while Flanders–Baloise and Euskaltel-Euskadi also pushed towards the front.

The bigger sprint teams found themselves squeezed out in the congested finale, but the wide finishing straight gave them enough room to recover. Alpecin-Premier Tech delivered the best lead-out, but Dehairs was no match for Crabbe, whose timing in the sprint was perfect. The 20-year-old Belgian claimed his third win of the year.