Presidential Tour of Turkey 2018 odds

Who wins Presidential Tour of Turkey 2018?

Presidential Tour of Turkey 2018

The Presidential Tour of Turkey 2018 starts on Tuesday 9th October and finishes on Sunday 14th October. The annual road race, in its 54th year, is part of the UCI World Tour and is classified as a 2.UWT stage race.

The 2017 edition was won by Italian racer, Diego Ulissi (UAE Team Emirates), who beat Jesper Hansen (Team Astana) and Fausto Masnada (Team Androni–Sidermec–Bottecchia) who finished second and third respectively. Last year was the first time the tour was included in the UCI World Tour calendar, although the race failed to attract the marquee names.

When before, the likes of Marcel Kittel (Team Katusha - Alpecin), Andre Greipel (Team Lotto Soudal) and Mark Cavendish (Team Dimension Data) fought for stage wins, and Adam Yates (Team Mitchelton-Scott) and Thibaut Pinot (Team Groupama - FDJ) went for the overall win, the 2017 peloton lacked the same depth.

The late change of date and surrounding uncertainty led to many teams failing to include the stage race on their planner. Only four WorldTour teams (Trek-Segafredo, UAE Emirates, Astana, and Bora - hansgrohe) attended.

The 2018 race, previous winners and favourites

This year, the Tour of Turkey will feature more World Tour teams than ever before with the dates secured early. And the Tour will once again finish in Istanbul.

Previous winners of the race include Jose Goncalves (Team Katusha - Alpecin) in 2016, Kristijan Durasek (UAE-Team Emirates) in 2015 and Adam Yates in 2014. Current holder Diego Ulissi has confirmed he has back to try and win for a second time running.

World Tour teams including BMC Racing, BORA - hansgrohe, Team Sunweb, UAE Team Emirates, Astana Pro Team, Trek - Segafredo, Team Katusha - Alpecin and Bahrain Merida Pro Cycling Team are confirmed for this year, meaning the lineup will be a lot stronger.

Alongside Ulissi, confirmed riders who will hope for strong performances include Steff Cras (Team Katusha - Alpecin), Przemvslaw Niemiec (UAE Team Emirates) and Louis Vervaeke (Team Sunweb). It remains to be seen if one of the world’s leading overall riders joins the lineup.