ByStan Rose, Stan Rose
Israel’s Cycling Academy Team, just four months old, scored its first international success with a win in the fourth stage of the five-day Tour d’Azerbaijan event.
In a tough and fast race, Dan Turek won the penultimate stage following a strong and lengthy breakaway, while his fellow Israeli riders controlled the peloton.
Blue skies and warm temperatures greeted the peloton at Freedom Square for the final stage in the capital city, Baku. Eight laps of a large circuit and three laps of a smaller and difficult course through the old walled city were to be covered.
An early break of five riders soon formed, including the Israeli Ido Zilberstein whose strength whittled the group down to three for much of the stage. Ido took the second and third intermediate sprints and placed first in the mountains category, building a six-minute lead into the last four laps.
A large group eventually overhauled the tiring Israeli who finished with the peloton having providing his Team 90 minutes of live television exposure on Eurosport.
The result over 20 hours racing placed four in the under-23 category, including Israelis Zilberstein and Gabay. The team placed ninth overall out of 23 teams.