Tour of Turkey 2014 - Stage 7

The seventh stage of the Tour of Turkey saw Orica-GreenEDGE's Adam Yates attempting to keep his one second lead safe from Cofidis' Rein Taaramae, whilst the sprinters fought it out on another flat day. Stage seven was a short day, just 136.3 kilometres travelling from Kusadasi to Izmir. Elia Viviani and Mark Cavendish would be looking to add another victory to their stage wins.

A breakaway looked to foil their plans however, with three men going out at the start of the day. Wesley Sulzberger of Drapac went away, along with Wesley Kreder of Wanty Groupe-Gobert and Piotr Gawronski (CCC Polsat). The peloton weren't too keen on letting the break contest the stage win however, and were soon working to reel them in.

The expected teams were on the front, with Omega Pharma-Quickstep and Cannondale working for their men Mark Cavendish and Elia Viviani respectively. With six kilometres to go they were brought back into the fold, and the endgame commenced. Omega Pharma-Quickstep were perfecting their train well, but Cannondale and UnitedHealthcare were also fighting for the lead.

Two crashes affected the race as it came into the finish, on a u-turn around one and a half kilometres from the line an Astana rider skidded out, and then with about 400 metres to go, Danilo Napolitano lost control of his bike, dangerously flying through the pack taking out an MTN Qhubeka rider and a rider from Torku Sekerspor.

Mark Cavendish struggled to keep up with his lead out as Viviani moved effectively through the peloton. Cavendish was delivered well to the front, but it was Viviani who came around the Manx Missile to take his second stage win of the race. Adam Yates retained his second lead over Taaramae, successfully negotiating a crash-strewn run in.