The 61st Presidential Cycling Tour of Türkiye opened with a 148.7 km stage from the Aegean resort of Çeşme to the ancient city of Selçuk, a day always likely to end in a bunch gallop. After the usual day-long break was reeled in, the sprint teams massed at the front for the run to the line. Twenty-year-old Belgian Tom Crabbe (Team Flanders - Baloise), one of the most promising sprinters of his generation, timed his effort perfectly to win ahead of Alpecin - Premier Tech's Simon Dehairs and MBH Bank's Davide Persico. With the bonus seconds on the line, Crabbe pulled on the first turquoise leader's jersey and also led the points classification.

Crabbe led the general classification after Stage 1 thanks to his stage win and the 10-second time bonus, with Dehairs and Persico the nearest challengers on bonus seconds. Caja Rural - Seguros RGA took the early teams-classification lead and Michał Pomorski (ATT Investments) led the mountains. With three flat-ish stages still likely to bunch up, the GC battle would not begin in earnest until the first summit finish at Kıran.