Tour of Turkey 2026 Stage 5 Preview: Patara to Kemer Along the Lycian Coast, Sosa's First Defence Day
The 2026 Presidential Cycling Tour of Türkiye reaches its second mountain pivot tomorrow with Stage 5 from Patara to Kemer, a 180.7km lumpy day along the Lycian coast that gives Iván Ramiro Sosa's turquoise jersey its first proper defence test. The Equipo Kern Pharma climber holds a 12-second margin over Movistar's Sergio Samitier after Wednesday's Kıran summit win, and the run from Patara wraps up two of the toughest categorised climbs in the back half of the route before opening out for a flat 6km run-in to Kemer.
The decisive parcours begins at km 92 with the second-category Çukurbağ climb, 8.4km at 5.7% with two pitches over 9% in the final 2km. The descent gives way to a 14km valley before the day's queen climb, the first-category Tahtalı pass at km 142, 11.2km at 6.9% topping out 24km from the finish. From the summit it is a single technical descent into Kemer with the only categorised climb in the final 30km a small uncategorised drag in the final 6km. The finish line is a flat coastal sprint stretch, but anyone who survives Tahtalı will be ahead of the bunch.
Sosa's 9km/9.7% Kıran dominance on Wednesday makes him the obvious 7/4 stage favourite, although Equipo Kern Pharma have been clear in the Wednesday evening team meeting that the day is about defending the GC, not chasing the stage win. Director Ricardo Otxoa told MARCA: "we will mark the dangerous riders. If Iván is in the front group at the line and the legs are good, of course he can sprint, but the GC stays in turquoise either way." Samitier at 6/1 is the obvious second name on the GC line. Jefferson Cepeda 8/1 carries the EF Education-EasyPost line and may use the day to bridge the 1'04" deficit.
The stage win has classic break-day fingerprints. Diego Pescador 9/1 was the strongest of the early movers on Stage 3 before being recaught and represents the most-likely Kern Pharma B-card if Sosa needs a road buddy. Joseph Blackmore 12/1 the Israel-Premier Tech climber, finished 7th on Stage 3 and has been visible at the front in every transition; Jay Vine 14/1 starts the day at +3'42" on GC and is a permitted breakaway pick under the GC rules. Lorenzo Fortunato 16/1 leads the XDS Astana line.
The flat sprinters are out of the picture for the stage win. Stage 4 winner Stanislaw Aniołkowski will not be in the front group at the line and Cofidis confirmed Wednesday evening that the Pole rides Stage 5 conservatively to save his legs for the closing flat day in Istanbul on Saturday. Fernando Gaviria the Movistar sprinter, in the team's words "racing on his own clock" through the mountains, with the same closing-stage target. Tom Crabbe (Flanders-Baloise) opened with two stage wins but is now a domestique day-and-day-out for Modern Adventure Pro Cycling's GC card.
Weather along the Lycian coast is forecast warm and dry: 22°C at flag drop in Patara, 24°C at the Kemer line, light easterly breeze on the Tahtalı climb, dry roads. Race radio confirms the cars carry full TV-1 coverage from km 50, the helicopter from the Çukurbağ approach at km 90. Stage 6 to the 14.6km/6.4% Feslıkan summit on Saturday is the second mountain pivot and the last GC-decisive day; the closing Antalya double-loop on Sunday is the final flat sprint stage. Flag drop 11:55 local time, finish in Kemer around 16:30 local, GC standings posted by 17:30. Movistar have committed Samitier to the day and named Gaviria explicitly off it; UAE Team Emirates have neither raced their Türkiye-domestic eight under team leadership, with no GC card declared.