Stefan De Bod wins first stage race of his career as he takes aim at Tour of Türkiye
South African wins Tour of Mersin in Türkiye in a race that included 17 African riders
South African’s Stefan de Bod took perhaps the biggest win of his career over the weekend, as he claimed a stage and overall victory at the 2.2 Tour of Mersin in Türkiye.
De Bod, who signed for Malaysian Continental team Terengganu over the winter after six years at WorldTour level, was a dominant force in the four-stage race. He was third on the lumpy day one, second on day two after getting into a break of six and won the queen stage on day three solo to win the race by 41 seconds over Belgian Lennart Teugels.
The success is another step in an already solid season as the 28-year-old looks to bounce back into the professional scene. He opened up his season with 12th overall in the AlUla Tour and followed with 6th at the Tour de Taiwan before winning his first race for the Malaysian outfit at the Grand Prix Syedra Ancient City on the 6th of April.
De Bod is looking to follow in the wheeltracks of Merhawi Kudus, who was also let go by American team EF Educatio-EasyPost before heading to Malaysia and then getting a move back to pro level with Burgos-Burpellet-BH after a string of impressive results on the Asia Tour last year.
”I liked the fact that they did not promise me ‘the world’, De Bod explained to Global Peloton after making the switch. “Down to earth people, and immediately got a liking to the team and people because of pure honesty in what they could offer me for 2025. That’s why I chose the team instead of another team that promised me the world. I knew exactly what was going on.”
De Bod’s next race is the Tour of Türkiye starting next weekend. It’s a 2.PRO level race and will be his biggest and best opportunity all season to show the big teams present that he is deserving of a step back up to the WorldTour.
African talent on show
De Bod wasn’t the only African finding success in Türkiye last week. Other racers from Algeria, Eritrea, Ethiopia and South Africa were also in attendance.
Two other Africans made it into the top-10 overall. Experienced Eritrean Dawit Yemane finished in fifth after being runner-up on the queen stage. His younger compatriot Petros Mengs finished eighth in the final standings.
The highly-rated young sprinter Milkias Maekele was riding his first stage race for Bike Aid. He finished 7th on the second stage and secured a third-place on the final day behind Jakub Marezcko. Maekele is one to keep an eye on, especially if he can get opportunities to race with Bike Aid in the French and German schedule.
There were more stage top-10s for the likes of Willie Smit, Yoel Habteab and Natnael Berhane.
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