Belgian rider IIijo Keisse stayed at the front for most of stage 7, but a slip-up almost cost him the biggest day of his road racing career. Photo: VeloImages

A MOST UNLIKELY WIN
After watching IIijo Keisse solo in from about 5km out, it's not like anyone doubted his ability to pull off yet another win for the dominating QuickStep Pharma team. But then the lanky track turned road racer entered the last double-apex turn  and promptly tucked the front end and went down. Track guys you know, they never have to turn right! Quickly remounting, his get-away was thwarted by a dropped chain. As we watched the agonizing seconds tick off in the press room sure of his lost opportunity, the camera switched to the fast approaching peloton. Yeah he was done. Not!

Click Here to see what happened to close out stage seven of the Tour of Turkey.

IN HIS OWN WORDS

"When you crash in the last kilometer, you don't think "whoo-hoo!" When I entered the turn my front end slipped and I just fell. As a track rider I know what it is like to do a hard 1 km effort from a standing a start. I was very close to not getting a contract this year, but Omega signed me and I am very happy to give them this win. I think it is the end of a very bad period of my life. My son is sick today so I want to dedicate the win to him and my girlfriend who is taking care of him.

"I did the six-days (of track racing) in the winter, but I passed on racing track worlds so I could focus on the road. I think you can combine the six-days season with the road and do well. I love track racing and will never stop, but I like the road a lot and at 29 years old I think I have years ahead. I am not on the Giro roster this year, but I hope next year to get the opportunity for a Grand Tour."

AS FOR THE ACTION ON PIT ROW...

Here's the stage six winning bike of Colnago -CSF Inox rider Sacha Modolo.


Here's the Vittoria Corsa Evo CX Team Protoype tires on Modolo's bike that few of us will most likely never get to ride.


A common sight at the daily breakfast buffet is numerous teams building the food base for the day to come. Here the soigneurs from team Bretagne-Schuller get their supply of sandwiches ready to go.


About ten hours after this photo was shot the Colnago team would be walking back into their hotel celebrating their second consecutive stage win.


Okay, stay with me now...which one of you (old) guys out there recall the actor Robert Conrad who starred on the TV show "The Wild, Wild  West"? As soon as I saw Andre Greipel leaving the hotel, Conrad was the first thing I thought about. Remember how on the tube his heroics made him seem bigger than life itself, but in reality the ruggedly handsome actor was only about five feet and some inches tall? Well, the same could be said about pedal masher supreme Andre Greipel. When he's killin' Cavendish in the finish sprint on TV he looks huge, but in real life, well he's really not so big after all. Not that he couldn't crush me with his bare hands...I'm just sayin' he's not as big in real life.


Moving on, here's Greipel's Ridley Noah with his signature gorilla motif on the head tube.


You can expect to find the colorful Bianchi Sempres under the Columbia Coldeportes team at the upcoming Tour of California.


Of all the black bikes in the peloton, the Canyon Aeroad looks especially delicious and fast....and nope, still not available in America.


The Team Katusha Canyon Aeroads were running their Shimano Di2 batteries on both the top of the downtube and...


...underneath the chainstay.


Although a different atmosphere from when the Tour de France started in Monaco a few years ago, the harbor setting of the stage six start was not without it's own sense of visible and vast wealth. The row of luxurious wooden schooners stretched as far as a football field.   


The Spanish based Pro Continental Andalucia team were aboard these mostly Italian (except the Shimano DuraAce drivetrain) outfitted Botteccchias with Gipiemme wheels mounted with Vittoria tires, Selle San Marco saddles and Deda hard parts.


Talk about unseen in America, how about this hefty VW team transport bus.