In a hard-fought sprint to the finish line, the 23-year-old Belgian Simon Dehairs (Alpecin - Deceuninck) overtook Matteo Malucelli (XDS Astana Team) at the end of the first stage of the Presidential Cycling Tour of Turkiye, which started and finished in Antalya. Completing the day's podium was another Belgian, Jules Hesters (Team Flanders - Baloise); among the top positions were Davide Persico (Wagner Bazin), seventh, Jakub Mareczko (Mazowsze Serce Polski), ninth, and Andrea Peron (Novo Nordisk), tenth.

The 132-kilometer initial stage was animated by a breakaway group of eight riders who escaped shortly after the start: Filippo Ridolfo (Team Novo Nordisk), Aiman Zariff (Terengganu), Konrad Czabok (Mazowsze Serce Polski) Willie Smit (China Glory), Vinzent Dorn (Bike Aid), Arda Tekirdag (Istanbul Belediye Spor), Ahmet Orken (Spor Toto) and Yunus Yilmaz (Konya Buyuksehir).

Twenty kilometers from the finish, Vinzent Dorn and Filippo Ridolfo broke away from the lead group, but after a few kilometers riding together, the two athletes were caught, and the peloton became compact under the impulse of Picnic Postnl and Lotto. In the last kilometer, a crash in the middle of the group "filtered out" the contenders for victory.

Simon Dehairs, in his sixth season with Alpecin - Deceuninck, celebrates his first career victory and will start tomorrow from Kemer wearing the race leader's jersey.

FINISH ORDER

1 DEHAIRS Simon Alpecin - Deceuninck 02:51:04

2 MALUCELLI Matteo XDS Astana Team ,,

3 HESTERS Jules Team Flanders - Baloise ,,

4 ABERASTURI Jon Euskaltel - Euskadi ,,

5 BRUSTENGA Marc Equipo Kern Pharma ,,

6 BOMBOI Davide Unibet Tietema Rockets ,,

7 PERSICO Davide Wagner Bazin WB ,,

8 BARBIER Pierre Wagner Bazin WB ,,

9 MARECZKO Jakub Mazowsze Serce Polski ,,

10 PERON Andrea Team Novo Nordisk ,,

11 VAN UDEN Casper Team Picnic PostNL ,,

12 LONARDI Giovanni Team Polti VisitMalta ,,

13 VAHTRA Norman China Glory - Mentech Continental Cycling Team ,,

14 VANDENBRANDEN Noah Team Flanders - Baloise ,,

15 BOUGLAS Georgios Burgos Burpellet BH ,,

16 PERRACCHIONE Alessandro Team Novo Nordisk ,,

17 BOUVIER Léo BIKE AID ,,

18 YILMAZ Ramazan Konya Büyükşehir Belediye Spor ,,

19 MAEKELE Milkias BIKE AID ,,

20 GONOV Lev XDS Astana Team