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Alanya, 10 October 2018 – Alanya to Antalya.
After yesterday’s action-packed finale in Konya, today’s SporToto stage 2 starts in the coastal town of Alanya and moves 150km along the south coast before finishing in Antalya.
Roll out is at 10.10am local time. The start of racing (km 0) follows a 4.5km neutralised section.
Today's stage includes the following:
At km 59.7:
1 Beauties of Turkey sprint worth 5, 3, and 1 points towards the Turkey at Home White Jersey competition for the first three riders across the line.
At 102.7km:
1 intermediate sprint worth 5, 3 and 1 pts towards the Salcano Green Jersey to the first 3 riders across, and also 3, 2, and 1 bonus seconds towards the SporToto Turquoise jersey
Jerseys
Spor Toto Turquoise jersey (overall race leader): 56 Maximiliano Richeze (Quick-Step Floors)
Turkish Airlines Red Jersey (mountain classification leader): 137 Beñat Txoperena (Euskadi Basque Country – Murias)
Turkey Home White Jersey (Beauties of Turkey classification leader): 194 Onur Belkan (Turkish National Team)
Salcano Green Jersey (points classification leader): 56 Maximiliano Richeze (Quick-Step Floors)
Stage profile
Stage finish
Today's feast of cultural and historical landmarks – some key points on and around today’s route
0km - Kızıl Kule(RED TOWER) (36° 32′ 11.44″ N, 31° 59′ 52.69″ E) The Kızıl Kule (Red Tower) is considered to be the symbol of the town of Alanya, and is depicted on the city's flag. The sultan brought the accomplished architect Ebu Ali Reha from Aleppo, Syria to Alanya to build it, and construction was completed in 1226. The octagonal red brick tower protects the Tersane (shipyard) which dates from 1221. Most of the rest of Alanya castle was built in the 13th century.
30.68km – The road from Okurcalur leads to Alanya Castle (Alanya Kalesi) (36° 31′ 59.56″ N, 31° 59′ 26.74″ E) The castle is located 250 metres (820 ft) above the city on a rocky peninsula jutting into the Mediterranean Sea, which protects it from three sides. The wall which surrounds the castle is 6.5 kilometres (4.0 mi) long and includes 140 towers. 400 different water towers were built to serve the castle. In 2009, city officials filed to include Alanya Castle and Tersane as UNESCO World Heritage Sites. They were named to the 2009 Tentative List. Aya Yorgi, located in the inner part of the castle, is a small Byzantine church built in 6th century. With its religious importance, it had become a prelacy. The church, with faded frescoes inside, dates back to times earlier than Seljuks and is being restored.
Alarahan Caravanserai (36° 41′ 54.1″ N, 31° 43′ 46.45″ E): the most famous and best preserved Anatolian caravanserai(a roadside inn where travelers could rest and recover from the day's journey), and a unique architectural masterpiece. A 13th century Seljuq building (The Seljuq dynasty was a Turkish Sunni Muslim dynasty that gradually adopted Persian culture. The Seljuqs established both the Seljuq Empire and Sultanate of Rum, from Anatolia to Persia. They were targets of the First Crusade). The building possesses one of the most complex plans of any caravanserai ever built. Two outer rings surround a central core. Historians assume that the inner ring was reserved for travellers and goods, whilst the outer ring was for services and animal stabling. It had its own mosque and baths. The 2-metre thick walls are constructed from carefully joined, accurately hewn limestone blocks. Each quarryman carved his mark on the stones he had shaped (probably for payment purposes): no similar structures possess such a variety of carving. Most caravanserais of the time were lit by small slit windows in their exterior walls, whereas Alarahan used 79 lion head sculptures to feed oil lamps. These Anatolian Lions symbolized Seljuk power, and are found frequently in Seljuk art. Just 15 kilometres from the Mediterranean coastline, for centuries Alarahan served traders and merchants who carried their goods on the Alanya-Antalya and Alanya-Konya-Ankara roads. When the Silk Road lost its importance, Alarahan was turned into a dormitory for dervishes and it was abandoned by the 19th century.
Alara Castle(Turkish: Alara Kalesi) (8.4 km inland from Okurcalar, 36° 41′ 54.1″ N, 31° 43′ 46.45″ E): built under the Byzantine Empire, in the 11th century Alara Castle became the western outpost of the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia (1080-1375). Situated on a steep massif over the east bank of Alara River, it protected the caravans from highway robberies that were stopping over at the last caravanserai Alarahan on the Silk Road to the sea, situated 300–400 m (980–1,310 ft) further south.
km 59.96 - Manavgat Waterfall(36° 48' 48" N - 31° 27' 15” E). Though the fall is only a few metres high, the riverbed is wide and the flow high enough to make the falls thundering and white. 1 km further north is the Little Waterfall, a somewhat smaller and less noisy version. Near the coast just south of Manavgat is the crescent-shaped Lake Titreyengölor ‘trembling lake,’ (36° 45' 21" N 31° 27' 11" E), covering 3000 square metres. There are daily cruises on Manavgat River, between the city and the Titreyengöl ("trembling lake") area downriver, near where the river empties into the Mediterranean.
59 km – TheTurkish Beauties Sprint Prime comes just after theexit for the road that leads to the coast and the site of ancient Side(36° 46′ 00″ N, 31° 23′ 20″ E): founded by Greek settlers from Cyme in Aeolis, a region of western Anatolia, probably in the seventh century B.C. Alexander the Great occupied Side, without violence, in 333 B.C.,introducing the town to Hellenistic culture, which flourished from the fourth to the first century B.C. After Alexander's death, Side fell under the control of one of his generals, Ptolemy I Soter, who declared himself King of Egypt in 305 B.C. The Ptolemaic dynasty controlled Side until it was captured by the Seleucid Empire in the second century B.C. Despite these occupations, Side managed to preserve some autonomy, grew prosperous, and became an important cultural centre. Between 188 and 36 B.C. Side minted its own money, tetradrachms, showing Nike and a laurel wreath (the sign of victory). A combination of earthquakes, Christian zealots and Arab raids, led to the site being abandoned by the 10th century. Side’s citizens emigrated to nearby Antalya. In 1895, Greek Muslim refugees from Crete moved to Side and called their town Selimiye.
92.7km EURYMEDON BRIDGE near SERIK (KOPRUPAZAR) (36° 54′ 51.23″ N, 31° 9′ 46.79″ E) The Eurymedon Bridge was a late Roman bridge over the river Eurymedon (modern Köprüçay), near Aspendos in Pamphylia in southern Anatolia. The foundations and several remnants (spolia) of the Roman structure were used by the Seljuqs to build a new bridge in the 13th century, the Köprüpazar Köprüsü, which stands to this day. The bridge is marked by a significant displacement of its course in the middle, following the ancient piers. Restoration works in the late 1990s in the bridge's crumbling breastwork also revealed stone inscriptions in Greek and Arabic.
93.7km Aspendos (36° 56′ 20″ N, 31° 10′ 20″ E) is the site of an ancient Pamphylian city, known for the best preserved ancient amphitheatre in the world, built in 155 A.D. by the architect Zenon, a native of the city, during the rule of the Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius. In keeping with Hellenistic traditions, a small part of the theatre was built so that it leaned against the hill where the Citadel (Acropolis) stood. The remainder was built on vaulted arches.. With a diameter of 96 metres, the theatre provided seating for 15,000 people and isprobably the finest ever built. The Aspendos International Opera and Ballet Festival offers an annual season of productions in the theatre in the spring and early summer.
Nearby stand the remains of a basilica, agora, nymphaeum and 15 kilometres (9.3 mi) of a Roman aqueduct.
Aspendos was an ancient city in Pamphylia. It was situated on the Eurymedon River, about 16 kilometres inland from the Mediterranean Sea. It shared a border with, and was hostile to, Side. The Hittites recorded a city called Asitawanda, where they traded horses, which was probably the Bronze Age name of Aspendos. This suggests that, like Perge, Aspendos was established long before the Iron Age.
Aspendos was one of the earliest cities to mint coins, first staters and later drachmas. The wide range of its coinage found throughout the ancient world indicates that, by the 5th century B.C., the Greek city had become the most important in Pamphylia. At that time the Eurymedon River was navigable as far as Aspendos, and the city derived great wealth from a trade in salt, oil, and wool. Aspendos continued to issue coins until the late Roman period.
In 333 B.C., Aspendos paid Alexander the Great a levy to avoid being garrisoned. It ignored its agreements with him, and later was occupied. In 190 B.C. the city surrendered to the Romans, who later pillaged it of its artistic treasures.
Aspendos went into decline towards the end of the Roman period. This decline continued throughout Byzantine times.
134.2km Perge (36°57′41″N 30°51′14″E) : an ancient and important city of Pamphylia, between the rivers Catarrhactes and Cestrus, renowned for the worship of Artemis, whose temple stood on a hill outside the town, and in whose honour annual festivals were celebrated. Coins minted at Perge show the goddess and her temple.
In 46 A.D., according to theActs of the Apostles, St. Paul journeyed to Perga, continued on to Antiocheia in Pisidia, then returned to Perga where he preached the word of God (Acts 14:25). Then he left and went to Attaleia.
In the first half of the 4th century, during the reign of the Emperor Constantine (324-337), Perga became an important centre of Christianity, which became the official religion of the Roman Empire. St. Matrona of Perge of the 6th century was a female saint known for temporarily cross-dressing to avoid her abusive husband.
Perga is today an archaeological site and a tourist attraction. The ruins include a theatre, a palæstra, a temple of Artemis and two churches. The temple of Artemis was located outside the town. Perga's most celebrated ancient inhabitant, the mathematician Apollonius (c.262 BC – c.190 BC), lived and worked there. He wrote a series of eight books describing a family of curves known as conic sections, comprising the circle, ellipse, parabola, and hyperbola.
Race finish 149km - Antalya
In 1st century BC the Pergamum king Attalus ordered his men to find the most beautiful piece of land on earth, which he called ‘heaven on earth’. Finding the area after a long search, hie men ar said to have declared ’This must be heaven' and King Attalus founded a city here, naming it Attaleia. When the Romans took over the Pergamene Kingdom, Attaleia became an outstanding Roman city which the great Roman Emperor Hadrian visited in 130 AD; an arch was built in his honour which is now worth seeing. Then came the Byzantines, after which the Seljuk Turks took over the city in 1207 and gave it a different name, Adalya, and built the Yivli Minaret. The Ottomans followed the Seljuks and finally within the Turkish Republic it became a Turkish city and an important port. Antalya has been growing rapidly since 1960.
Today, the Antalya coast is sometimes referred to as the Turkish Riviera.
54th Presidential Cycling Tour of Turkey, 9-14 October 2018 (2.UWT):
Stage 1 (sponsored by Turkish Airlines) - Konya › Konya
Stage 2 (SporToto) - Alanya › Antalya
Stage 3 (Troy) - Fethiye › Marmaris
Stage 4 (SporToto) - Marmaris › Selçuk
Stage 5 (Vestel) - Selçuk › Manisa
Stage 6 (Salcano) - Bursa › Istanbul
For further TUR information,
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