Iván Sosa (Kern Pharma) won stage 3 of the Tour of Turkey, moving into the overall lead of the race atop the summit finish in Kiran.
The former Movistar and Ineos Grenadiers racer showed the best climbing legs on the tough final climb, getting the better of Sebastian Berwick (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA), who finished in second place, nine seconds down.
Nicolas Breuillard (TotalEnergies) rounded out the day's podium, 15 seconds down on Sosa.
After bunch sprints on the opening two days, stage 3 marked the first GC showdown of the 2026 Tour of Turkey, with the Kiran summit finish providing a stern test, measuring 9km at an average gradient of 9.7%.
Sylvain Moniquet (Cofidis) was the first rider to attack on the lower slopes of the climb, but TotalEnergies set a strong tempo behind in the bunch, which steadily shrank in number.
The key moment came just under 5km from the top when Kamiel Bonneu (Solution Tech Nippo Rali) launched an attack. Breuillard was the first to respond, but Sosa soon jumped on board, and soon went past both of them, igniting a solo move that would take him all the way to the stage win and the leader’s jersey.
Bonneu was the closest lone chaser for much of the climb but started to fade inside the final 2km, while Berwick surged from behind. The Australian caught Breuillard and together they moved past Bonneu with just over a kilometer to go.
At that point, Sosa had over half a minute in hand, but he too started to fade, his speed and pain-face in stark contrast to Berwick who was racing up from behind.
Still, the Colombian had done enough, and he now leads the race by 13 seconds over Berwick, with Breuillard third on GC at 21 seconds.
The race continues on Wednesday with a much flatter stage 4 that finishes in Fethiye.
Results
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