The fourth stage of the 2026 Tour of Turkey goes to Stanislaw Aniolkowski. On the finish line in Fethiye, the destination of a 130-kilometer stage that started from Marmaris, the Polish sprinter prevailed ahead of Riley Pickrell (Modern Adventure) and Davide Persico (MBH Bank CSB Telecom Fort), thus celebrating his sixth career victory, the first since 2023.

THE RACE

Starting from Marmaris without Juan Guillermo Martinez (Picnic PostNL), the peloton immediately sees Jonah Killy (Tartelletto-Isorex), Paul Wright (Modern Adventure) and Feritcan Samli (Spor Toto Cycling Team) attack, but the three quickly return to the fold. The race proceeds without incident but, also aided by favorable wind at times, at very high speed as demonstrated by the first hour exceeding 50 km/h. After the "Treasures of Turkey" sprint won by Mustafa Tarakci (Konya Büyükşehir Belediye Spor), the always active Jonah Killy, Awet Aman (Istanbul), Mustafa Tekin and Feritcan Şamli (Spor Toto Cycling Team), Muhammed Erkan (Muğla Büyükşehir Belediyesi Spor Kulübü) and Turkish champion Samet Bulut (Konya Büyükşehir Belediye Spor) break away, quickly building over two minutes on the peloton. This allows them to contest the second intermediate sprint (won by Şamli) and, by mere seconds, also the day's only categorized climb (1st Tekin), immediately after which the group, driven hard uphill by Cofidis men, closes the gap.

Despite this, the situation remains quite animated because on the final climb 20 kilometers from the finish, an attack by a Modern Adventure rider, followed by Dario Igor Belletta (Polti VisitMalta), and the resulting change of pace splits the peloton in two. On the descent, however, the twenty or so men remaining at the front and the rest of the group regroup, and this is when Mario Aparicio (Burgos Burpellet BH) attempts a courageous counterattack.

His move, however, comes to nothing because, by taking control of the situation at the front, the TotalEnergies riders quickly close the gap, managing in this way to definitively calm things down before the expected final sprint. Here Persico approaches the final tens of meters in the lead, but with the finish line now in sight, both Pickrell and an even faster Aniolkowski pass him, relegating him to the lowest step of today's podium, his second in four stages raced so far.

The Cofidis rider celebrates for the first time since May 6, 2023, when at the Tour of Hellas he had won the fourth stage: since then the Warsaw native has achieved, over the following three seasons, 8 podiums and 40 top-ten finishes without, however, any first place, a result that came today at the end of a stage that saw his teammates spend themselves far and wide to put him in the ideal conditions to break a taboo that had lasted far too long.

Updates to follow.

STAGE RESULTS

1. Stanislaw Aniolkowski (POL/Cofidis) - 2:52:50

2. Riley Pickrell (CAN/Modern Adventure) - s.t.

3. Davide Persico (ITA/MBH Bank CSB Telecom-Fort) - s.t.

4. Manuel Peñalver (SPA/Polti VisitMalta) - s.t.

5. Marc Brustenga (SPA/Equipo Kern Pharma) - s.t.

6. Davide Ballerini (ITA/XDS Astana) - s.t.

7. Sente Sentjens (BEL/Alpecin-Premier Tech) - s.t.

8. Marco Manenti (ITA/Bardiani CSF 7Saber) - s.t.

9. César Macías (MES/Burgos Burpellet BH) - s.t.

10. Sergio Romeo (SPA/Equipo Kern Pharma) - s.t.

GENERAL CLASSIFICATION

1. Iván Ramiro Sosa (COL/Equipo Kern Pharma) - 10:39:44

2. Sebastian Berwick (AUS/Caja Rural-Seguros RGA) at 0:13

3. Nicolas Breuillard (FRA/TotalEnergies) at 0:21

4. Alessandro Fancellu (ITA/MBH Bank CSB Telecom-Fort) at 0:36

5. Kamiel Bonneu (BEL/Solution Tech NIPPO Rali) at 0:40

6. Nicolas Vinokurov (KAZ/XDS Astana) at 0:50

7. Henok Mulubrhan (ERI/XDS Astana) at 1:03

8. Matteo Scalco (ITA/XDS Astana) at 1:03

9. Jordan Jegat (FRA/TotalEnergies) at 1:05

10. José Félix Parra (SPA/Caja Rural-Seguros RGA) at 1:07

OTHER CLASSIFICATIONS

Points Classification: Tom Crabbe (BEL/Flanders-Baloise)

Mountain Classification: Iván Ramiro Sosa (COL/Equipo Kern Pharma)

Team Classification: XDS Astana (KAZ)