KAYSERI: Terengganu Polygon Cycling Team (TSG) claimed another victory in Turkey on Saturday, thanks to some astute observations and quick thinking.
TSG's Mongolian rider Jambaljamts Sainbayar emerged victorious in the 111.8km Grand Prix Develi in the Kayseri province after clocking two hours, 28 minutes and 48 seconds.
Ukrainian Vitaliy Buts of Sakarya BB Spor Kulubu and Yacine Hamza from Algeria national team came in second and third respectively (same time) in the UCI1.2 race.
TSG's Youcef Reguigui, Metkel Eyob and Zamri Saleh were sixth, 16th and 20th while Harrif Saleh and Nur Aiman Zariff finished out of the top 20 after putting in their shifts earlier in the race.
Team captain Zamri said the other teams were focused on marking Youcef throughout the race.
"The whole team put in a great effort (Saturday), it was not an easy race," said Zamri.
"There was a strong crosswind and subsequently there were a lot of splits and attacks between the 50km and 80km stretch of the race.
"A lot of riders were focused on marking Youcef. We discussed what to do and began our lead-out train one km from the finish.
"Jambaljamts was in front, I was behind him while Youcef was further back.
"It was an uphill stretch and at the 500m mark I slowly reduced the pace to allow Jambaljamts to open up a gap. Thankfully, he was able to maintain his lead until the finish and take the win.
"The other riders in the second group were still waiting for Youcef to make his move. That was our strategy and it paid off today," added Zamri, 38, who is Harrif's elder brother and is the most senior member of the TSG squad.
TSG's Anatolii Budiak finished third in the GP Kapuzbasi on Friday.