It is a Tour of Turkey this year that, stage after stage, is bringing back into the spotlight names that have not appeared at the front of the finishing order for quite some time. After Ivan Ramiro Sosa yesterday, today it was Stanislaw Aniolkowski's turn to rediscover the sweet taste of victory after more than two years with a sprint that, on the straightaway in Fethiye, allowed him to overwhelm Riley Pickrell and Davide Persico.

The twenty-nine-year-old from Warsaw had not managed a feat like this since the fourth stage of the Tour of Hellas in May 2023, a date after which the Polish sprinter began a drought that, days later, he managed to break by delivering a sprint that, considering his previous achievements, brought him the most important victory of his career.

"We came here with the objective of winning stages suited to sprinters with me. Unfortunately, in the first stage I wasn't feeling very well and I struggled a bit because of some stomach issues, but I was hoping to recover for this stage and today I seized the opportunity perfectly, finally. I really missed winning. I hope it can give me even more confidence for the upcoming appointments, starting with the next stages here in Turkey" declared the Cofidis rider after the finish line, who, while continuing to miss the big target, never stopped believing in his abilities and his work.

"It certainly hasn't been an easy time. If you're the team's sprinter, everyone expects you to win but over the last two years I've never managed to raise my arms in victory. Despite this, everyone continued to believe in me and I never stopped believing, working hard and trying: I got many top 10s and even top 5s, but no victories" explained Aniolkowski, who in these years has also seen the landscape of sprints change.

"The level has risen year after year, today there are many more riders occupying the final meters and the key often lies in finding the right gap to have the chance to sprint as happened today. For all this I'm extremely happy to finally repay my teammates: in this stage they all worked really hard, starting to set the pace 30 km from the finish to tire out my opponents and make the race a bit harder and therefore more ideal for me" continued the Polish sprinter, revealing what was a plan architected with precision from the morning.

"We knew that I can get over the climbs a bit better compared to other sprinters so we tried to make the race as hard as possible. The wind didn't help us because it was blowing from the front and side so much so that, in the end, the main group perhaps had a few fewer riders but was still quite large".

Even without achieving the desired result, Aniolkowski did not give up and in the sprint he unleashed a move that certainly made the managers and management of Cofidis happy as well, who, as sponsors, never stopped supporting him and the team.

"Our sponsor continues to have faith in us even though we haven't done so well over the last three years. Last season, in the end, we were relegated by a difference, I believe, of 300 points, continuing to fight until the last races in China and Japan, but unfortunately we didn't make it. This was certainly a lesson for us and it's demonstrated by the fact that, as you will have seen, we started this season really well. We changed our mentality, we have a new strategy and now we're following that" emphasized an Aniolkowski who, speaking of the team, found himself counting on one fewer rider in Turkey because in the roster of the French team there are many being tormented by problems of various kinds.

"This year too we're dealing with many injuries. Out of the 30 guys that make up our roster, many right now many guys are sick or injured and that's why we're here with six and why I want to dedicate this victory to the team. Everyone who was here today worked really hard for me. The climbers did a good job today and I managed to finish in style, so I'm super happy and proud of this which is in all respects a team victory, not just mine. I hope to be able to give the guys other successes like this one and to be able to celebrate even more often".

We'll see if, once unblocked, this prediction comes true already in Turkey, an engagement after which Aniolkowski already has a clear idea of what he'll do.

"Once Turkey is finished, I'll try to rest a bit because I started racing already in January and had a rather long first part of the season. After that I'll try to prepare myself as best as I can for the second part of this 2026: I believe I'll race some classics in Belgium and France before going to the national championships where we'll take stock of my condition and understand which races to compete in from there onwards" concluded the happy rediscovered Polish sprinter.