Stage two of the 2013 Presidential Tour of Turkey will be remembered for a dramatic crash in the finale which took down a very sizeable chunk of the peloton, but also marked a strong victory for Orica GreenEdge’s impressive Lithuanian rider, Aidis Kroupis.
The 26 year old managed to avoid the incident which spilled out across the road, somehow manoeuvring his way through and then sprinting hard all the way to the line, overtaking riders who were ahead of him.
He blazed in ahead of Marco Coledan (Bardiani Valvole-CSF Inox) and André Greipel (Lotto-Belisol), landing one of the biggest wins of his career thus far.
“I feel very good to have won today,” said Kruopis afterwards. “I had a bit of bad luck with Qatar and Langkawi. I was looking for a victory at both of those races and came up empty. It was especially nice to take the victory today after that.”
When suggested that he was fortunate in how things played out, with some important sprinters being held up in the fall, Kroupis accepted that it may have played a part in his success. However he’s won big races before, including a stage of the 2012 Tour of Poland, and is by no means a flash in the pan.
This success is an important stepping stone between now and the next stage of his career. “I was lucky that I didn’t crash but I think I also needed some skills to [be able to] do that,” he said. “Of course I was lucky but I think I was also good today.”
While Mark Renshaw and Theo Bos were amongst those to be held up, as were many other strong sprinters, Kruopis said after the stage that he derived a lot of satisfaction from one of the scalps he took. “It gives me a lot of confidence to have beaten Greipel, one of the best sprinters in the world,” he said, smiling. “It means a lot to me and for my confidence for the future.”
Watch the full press conference below, in which Kruopis speaks about the victory, his team’s tactics for the stage, his goals for the remainder of the race and his thoughts on the rest of the season.