Tom Crabbe is certainly one of the season's revelations. Few, if any, would have expected such a profitable and explosive leap in quality from the twenty-one-year-old from Jette who, once he put himself on the map with his victory at the Etoile de Bessges, has not stopped since, stamping an important affirmation at the Vuelta a Andalucia and another, equally significant, today at the Tour of Turkey, an appointment that the standard-bearer of Team Flanders Baloise had long since set his sights on.

"Last year I followed the race on TV. We had a good team here, but I couldn't come because I hadn't yet finalized my plans for that period. This year I specifically asked to participate and I'm happy I did" said the Belgian beaming in the press conference.

"I knew we could encounter heat (in Belgium we don't yet have this type of climate) and that there would be opportunities for me: managing to seize one already on the first day is really nice. I'm very pleased" continued Crabbe, who took very little time to break the ice with a race that could give him far more than one joy.

"Every day I try to do my best: today it was enough, and that's what matters, but I don't want to stop here. The week is still long, there are four or five stages where there could be new opportunities for me so we'll see... Now I'll try to recover as best I can and then we'll see in the coming days what we can manage to do".

Meanwhile, this first triumph has confirmed the soundness of the work done this year with his team and, in parallel, the personal qualities that are progressively coming more and more to the fore.

"Together with the team I've made good progress and so far I'd say things have gone rather well. I had a few small problems in races in Belgium which, with their toughness, helped me a lot, but now I'm really happy to be back at peak fitness" said a pleased Crabbe who, before preparing for the Turkish race for a couple of weeks with his coach, dedicated himself specifically to work to improve his explosive speed.

"This year I've trained a lot on my reaction time and raced some flat classics specifically to improve my sprint. Today I had only a fraction of a second to identify the right gap and at a certain point it materialized. In that moment I followed my instinct and it was the right choice because if I had hesitated, I would have been shut out. In those situations you don't have to wait but you have to go for it" explained the Belgian rider who at Selçuk, after two sharp performances on non-simple finishes, gave proof for the first time that he could have his say even on flat finishes suited to pure sprinters.

"I'm not a heavy rider who has to drag 80 kilos up the climbs, so resisting on certain ascents is something I have in my arsenal. My other victories, in fact, I had obtained at the top of climbs or in any case finishes with a slight incline. Also for this reason, managing to impose myself today even on a completely flat finish is particularly satisfying because it's something I've worked on quite a bit".

This success will make the market sirens sound even louder around the Belgian prospect who, in recent months, has learned to live with the growing number of eyes and attention on him.

"It's better now. At the beginning of the season, after the first victory, I found myself having to manage quite a few other things outside of racing. It wasn't easy, because I just want to race, but now mentally I'm better and that helps. Today, for example, I raced without pressure and it was important to do that to win" concluded relieved the one who, after today, is even more the rider with the most wins to his credit this season among those present in the Tour of Turkey caravan.