Mark Cavendish completed a memorable week by sprinting to a fourth victory at the 2021 Tour of Turkey on Sunday.

The Manx Missile has returned to form in scintillating fashion during his brief sojourn in the Turkish republic, claiming his first stage victory in more than three years last Monday.

The 35-year-old followed that up by winning both of the next two stages to complete a quickfire hat-trick - his first in eight years since doing so at the Tour of Qatar in 2013.

After narrowly missing out on victory in the sixth and seventh stages on Friday and Saturday, the Manxman bounced back in style to win Sunday’s eighth and final stage which saw riders tackle a 160.3-kilometre route from Bodrum to Kusadasi.

The stage was raced at a frenetic pace throughout with a breakaway only forming after two hours of action, Cav’s Deceuninck- QuickStep team-mate Stijn Steels helping the group stay away until roughly 30km to go.

Fabio Jakobsen, Iljo Keisse and Shane Archbold also safely protected the Manxman, helping him out on the day’s second-category climb and then bringing him near the front of the main group as the peloton was approaching Kusadası.

A chaotic finale unfolded, with some of the general classification riders attacking in order to put pressure on the overall leader of the race before the sprinters’ teams took over and hit the front of the bunch inside 3km to go.

In trademark Cavendish fashion, he rode on the wheels of his rivals before kicking out on the right-hand side of the road, surging forward and taking the win by the narrowest of margins ahead of Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Fenix) with a perfectly-timed bike throw over the line.

In doing so, the Manxman earned the 150th win of his professional career to date.

Speaking after the race, he commented: ’Today was harder than we imagined it was going to be, as we had different races within the race for all the various classifications.

’The stage was full gas from the beginning and it went like this for more than 100km, until a break finally got away.

’We had Stijn there, while I could rely on the likes of Iljo, Fabio and Shane when we came to the crucial point of the stage, that nasty classified climb with 20 kilometres to go.’

’Having them by my side allowed me to keep enough energy for the final kilometres of the stage where it was very messy again, but fortunately a gap opened just as I I started my sprint and I could beat Philipsen on the line.

’I’m happy to get my fourth stage win here, it feels really great.

’We had an amazing week, we really enjoyed ourselves and taking my 150th pro victory as part of this incredible team is just the cherry on the cake.’

Despite a hugely successful week, Cav narrowly missed out on winning the green points jersey as he was pipped by Philipsen by only four points, 101 to 97.

l Elsewhere on Sunday, Isle of Man teenager Amelia Sharpe (NXTG) impressed in the Amstel Gold round of the Women’s World Cup series in the Netherlands.

Competing with the world’s best, the Manx woman finished the 116km race in an excellent 40th place, crossing the line in a 24-strong group of riders some eight minutes down on the winner, multiple world champion Marianne Vos (Jumbo Visma).

Amelia got into an early break with 22 others and together they gained a maximum of nearly two minutes before being caught.

She then stayed with the leading group until the final lap when all the big attacks kicked off.

Amelia’s final position earned her eight UCI points as well as some complimentary comments on the TV coverage.