The 47th Presidential Tour of Turkey on Sunday took start with a 114.1-km prologue stage in Istanbul in a week of races of a total of eight stages.

The 1,387-km tour, which is the first ever intercontinental cycling event, features 22 teams and 176 professional cyclists, including Andre Greipel of Columbia, Garmin Transitions sprinter Tyler Farrar and Italian Alessandro Petacchi from Lampre-ISD.

After the Istanbul prologue, cyclists will fly to Kusadasi for the second stage. The tour will end on May 1 in Alanya. the race will air live on Turkish television network TRT and on Eurosport.

STAGES:

Stage Date Place (km)
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1. April 24 Istanbul 114.1
2. April 25 Kusadasi-Turgutreis 178
3. April 26 Bodrum-Marmaris 166
4. April 27 Marmaris-Pamukkale 207
5. April 28 Denizli-Fethiye 218.6
6. April 29 Fethiye-Finike 184
7. April 30 Tekirova-Manavgat 138
8. May 1 Side-Alanya 157.8

TEAMS:

Team Garmin-Cervelo (U.S.), Omega Pharma-Lotto (Belgium), Lampre-ISD (Italy), Liquigas-Cannondale (Italy), Saxo Bank SunGard (Denmark), Pro Team Astana (Kazakhstan), Cofidis, Le Credit en Ligne (France), FDJ (France), Colnago-CSF Inox (Ireland), Androni Giocattoli (Italy), Veranda's Willems-Accent (Belgium), Farnese Vini-Neri Sottoli (England), Team Netapp (Germany), Team SpiderTech Powered By C10 (Canada), De Rosa-Ceramica Flamina (Ireland), Caja Rural (Spain), Skill Shimano (The Netherlands), Team Type 1 (U.S.), Colombia Es Pasion-Cafe De Colombia (Colombia ), Andalucia Caja Granada (Spain), Manisaspor Bisiklet Takimi (Turkey), Konya Torku Sekerspor-Vivelo (Turkey)

AA