ITALIAN GOLD

Shusha is one of the most beautiful places in Azerbaijan. On June 7-11, the town hosted yet another prestigious international competition—the Aziz Shusha cycling race dedicated to the 100th birth anniversary of the national leader Heydar Aliyev.

The five-stage 2.2 event, included in the International Cycling Union (UCI) calendar for 2023, started in Baku.

Five stages

In the first stage, athletes covered 150 km and crossed the finish line in Shamakhy. Winners were determined thanks to photo shots. Bulgarian team member Martin Papanov ranked first, Emanuele Ansaloni from the Italian Team Technipes #inEmiliaRomagna  the second and Cristian Raileanu from Romania the third.

In the second stage of the competition, athletes covered 176.2km of the Gabala-Oghuz-Sheki-Oghuz-Gabala route. The winner among the men athletes in the elite age category was Luuk Schuurmans of the Dutch Universe Cycling Team. Second place went to Nikolay Genov of Bulgaria and third to Julien Trarrier of China Glory Continental. Kamran Mirzakhanov (Azerbaijan) demonstrated great performance and crossed the finish line as part of the leading ninth athletes.

On the third day, the cyclists started in Gabala, cycling 170km through Agdash and Mingechevir before finishing in Ganja. First place went to Jari Verstraeten of the Belgian club Bataia Brigade, while Mihnea-Alexandru Harasim of Romania ranked second and Anton Kuzmin of Kazakhstan's Almaty Astana Motors club ranked third. The best result in the Azerbaijani team was shown by Kamran Mirzakhanov, who ranked tenth.

In the fourth stage, the athletes drove 102.9km on mountain roads to the Goygol National Park, taking a lap of the intended route in Ganja.

The first three places went to Alessandro Monaco, Emanuele Ansaloni (both representing Team Technipes #inEmiliaRomagna, Italy) and Rudolf Remhi from Almaty Astana Motors, Kazakhstan.

Samir Jabrayilov of the Azerbaijani national team showed great performance and managed to break away from the peloton. He continued to race on the uphill among the leaders and eventually showed the best result after four stages (15 points).

In the final stage, cyclists started in front of the mayor's office of Beylagan and drove 132.2km to Shusha, cycling along the Victory Road. The mountain trails with ups and downs and the stunning natural scenery made the race particularly interesting and exciting.

At the end of stage five, Emanuele Ansaloni (Italy) ranked first, while Romanian Cristian Raileanu and Italian Martin Nessler finished the second and third, respectively.

The winners

After the results of the last stage became available, the jury determined the winners of the overall classification. The gold medal was awarded to Emanuele Ansaloni, Team Technipes #inEmiliaRomagna (Italy). In addition to a yellow jersey, he was awarded a green one as the best sprinter of the race.

The silver and bronze medals went to Rudolf Remhi of Almaty Astana Motors and Lars Quedvlig of the Dutch Universe Cycling Team.

Samir Jabrayilov of the Azerbaijani national team showed tenacity on the mountain courses and overcame all his opponents (20 points). As a result, he was awarded a red jersey (best mountain biker). Rudolf Remhi received a white jersey as the best young rider.

In the general classification, Musa Mikayilzade (12th) was the best rider amongst the Azerbaijani cyclists.

The Italian Team Technipes #inEmiliaRomagna took first place in the team competition, followed by Kazakhstan's Vino SKO Team and China's China Glory Cycling Team. The national team of Azerbaijan ranked the 9th.

The competition was attended by around 100 athletes from 16 teams of 14 countries.

The first Aziz Shusha bicycle race was held in Azerbaijan in 2022. It consisted of two stages and was attended by a relatively small number of participants. The race then attained full cycling day status and effectively became the successor to the Tour d'Azerbaijan first held in 2012.