After the Tour du Rwanda in February and Paris-Nice in March, with May approaching, the time has finally come for the third eight-day pro stage race scheduled on the 2026 calendar: the Presidential Cycling Tour of Türkiye.

This year too, as has always been the case since the event took on its current format in 2021, the race organized by the Turkish Federation with the support of the Ministry of Youth and Sports will take place over eight days, from Sunday, April 26 to Sunday, May 3, and will represent one of the last appointments before the focus of teams, media and enthusiasts shifts entirely, the following week, to the imminent Giro d'Italia.

In view of the Corsa Rosa, for some the Turkish appointment will be the last opportunity to fine-tune their condition before heading to Bulgaria, while for all others it will constitute an important chance to boost their personal tally or even find their first seasonal victories before the season of the Grand Tours is officially inaugurated.

Regardless of the intent with which riders will line up at the start of the 61st edition, competitors will be called upon to cover a total of 1,131.2 kilometers (the lowest figure since the race took on its current format) and an overall elevation gain of 14,515 meters not very different from that of the last two editions. Unlike the latter, however, and this is the major novelty this year, the route will move along the western-southern coast of the country in a counterclockwise direction and not, as has happened since 2021 onwards, in a clockwise direction along the coastal perimeter of the nation.

This will mean that, after the inaugural sprint stage from Çeşme to Selçuk, the race will proceed in a southwest direction, tackling in succession the Aydın-Marmaris stage (a 152.8-kilometer stage that with the final climb 10.5 km from the finish could deliver an unpredictable finale) and the Marmaris-Kıran stage which, after 132.7 kilometers, will confront athletes with the first mountain-top finish of the race at the same identical finish line where, a year ago, Wout Poels went on to secure a victory that was crucial for clinching the Turkish jersey.

The following day, the caravan will once again depart from Marmaris (a town that, hosting two starts and one finish, thus confirms its title as the most visited city in the race's history) to conclude its day's journey in Fethiye (the second most explored locality by the Tour of Türkiye) at a finish line that should once again favor the sprinters.

The longest stage of this edition, the Patara-Kemer stage of 180.7 km, could also conclude with a sprint, but everything will depend on how the 2nd category climb positioned 39 kilometers from the finish is tackled, which could eliminate quite a few top sprinters from contention. A completely different scenario will unfold instead in the sixth stage, which from Antalya will bring the peloton to the new and tough mountain-top finish of Feslikan: here, along the 21.9 kilometers at 8.3% average gradient, the big names will be called to show their hand and forced to play all their cards to definitively direct the battle for the overall victory.

After this effort, considering the terrain of the last two stages, it is unlikely that major upheavals will materialize: in the Antalya-Antalya stage of 152.8 kilometers, the short 3rd category climb 38.5 km from the finish should not be sufficient to prevent yet another sprint finish, while in the concluding stage drawn on the roads of the capital Ankara (reinserted into the route 27 years after its last appearance), the 800-meter climb at 7% average gradient where the curtain will fall on the 2026 edition of the race will be preferred hunting ground for the puncheurs.

Compared to the routes and altitude difficulties of this last pair of stages, a more marked role in defining the final standings could be played by the bonus seconds at the finish (17 in total) scattered throughout the various stages which, depending on the cases, could end up helping or disadvantaging some of the contenders for the top step of the podium.

These, therefore, would do well not to underestimate a variable that, in the past, has already proven decisive on several occasions, given that, from 2021 (when the battle between Jose Manuel Diaz and Jay Vine was resolved by just one second in favor of the Spaniard) to 2025 (16" the margin between the top two in the standings), the gap between the first and second-placed rider at the Presidential Cycling Tour of Türkiye has never exceeded 26 seconds.

THE STAGES

Stage 1 (April 26): Çeşme-Selçuk — 148.7 km

Stage 2 (April 27): Aydın-Marmaris — 152.8 km

Stage 3 (April 28): Marmaris-Kıran — 132.7 km

Stage 4 (April 29): Marmaris-Fethiye — 130.4 km

Stage 5 (April 30): Patara-Kemer — 180.7 km

Stage 6 (May 1): Antalya-Feslikan — 127.9 km

Stage 7 (May 2): Antalya-Antalya — 152.8 km

Stage 8 (May 3): Ankara-Ankara — 105.2 km