Many were surprised by Tuesday’s winner of the Tour of Turkey‘s queen stage. Ivailo Gabrovski is a Bulgarian who rides for local Continental Team Konya Turku Seker Spor, though I fail to understand why. Here’s a rider who won the overall in 2007 and who knows the lie of the land.
Gabrovski celebrates winning stage 3 (image courtesy of official race website)
Aleksandr Efimkin (image courtesy of Team Type 1)
The defending champion in this week’s Tour of Turkey, Aleksandr Efimkin, is a twin. He won the title last year, arguably his career best-result, after joining US ProContinental Team Type 1, having previously ridden for AG2R La Mondiale, Quick Step and Barloworld.
Vladimir and Aleksandr Alexandrovich Efimkin were born 15 minutes apart in Kuybyshev (now Samara), Russia in December 1981. Like most youngsters, they tried a variety of sports before Aleksandr settled on cycling. Vladimir soon followed suit. Early success in winning races saw them move to a sports-specific school to continue their development.