Bora-Hansgrohe's Bennett had won the first three stages of the event but his dream run concluded on the 204.1 kilometres ride from Marmaris to Selçuk.

With the win Ulissi, who rides for UAE Team Emirates, takes control of the race and boasts a 12-second lead over Denmark’s Jesper Hansen of Astana, who finished second five seconds back today.

Bennett endured a miserable day and finished second to last at 14 min 59secs adrift to drop out of general classification contention.

The 26-year-old remains in the green jersey, though, with a four-point lead over Belgian Edward Theuns of Trek Segafredo.

"This was an important win because we wanted this and wanted to do well here as a team and have a very good end of season,” Ulissi said, according to Eurosport.

"For my part I wanted to end it well, and at least in part I’m doing so because today I won a really beautiful stage here in Turkey.

“We have the leader’s jersey and we will try to defend it.”

Tomorrow's penultimate stage will see riders travel 180km from Selçuk to İzmir.

The Tour of Turkey has been included in the International Cycling Union World Tour for the first time this year, but will struggle to hold its place unless more top teams compete.

Only four World Tour teams - Astana Pro Team, Bora-Hansgrohe, Trek-Segafredo and UAE Team Emirates - are present.

The race was initially due to take place in February before being shifted to April.

It was then pushed back again amid heightened security concerns in Turkey, where the country remains in a state of emergency amid a high risk of terror attacks.