UCI racing returns to Azerbaijan after nine year hiatus

It was my first visit to Azerbaijan, and when the UK’s Foreign Office travel guidance is ‘do not travel’, as well as my travel insurance provider informing me that my cover does not extend to Azerbaijan due to its proximity to Russia and Iran, it was with initial trepidation that I boarded the flight to Baku. 

However, I met with Farhad Aliyev, the Race Director, at the start, and he put me at ease immediately:

“It is a real honour for us to be back again, and all stages being live on Eurosport is a big thing for us. In the region, there are some issues for sure but, like Switzerland, we remain neutral in these things and sport exists outside of politics also," said Aliyev. 

"Our country, it is really safe, the UCI has given us the 2.1 classification and sent some of their best commissaires, so we are expecting to have a spectacular race.”

This was one of the most international UCI races for many years, with ProCyclingStats sharing that the peloton hails from 42 countries, representing every continent, making it the second most diverse race in history. The excellent José Been and Michael Hutchinson delivered the live commentary on Eurosport/TNT Sports Cycling all week.

The first stage was a flat 159.3km around the capital city of Baku. It was a straightforward day, no meaningful breakaways and by the final 10km, all attacks had been neutralised. 

At around 2km to go, China’s Li Ning Star team came to the front and put in a strong effort. At 1.2km to go, there was an eight-rider pile-up, but none of the main GC riders were involved. 

Astana’s Aaron Gate put in a strong pull for sprinter Gleb Syritsa. However, Li Ning Star’s 32 Belarusian Aliaksei Shnyrko took the win with Syritsa a close second.

Looking at the road book, stage two was a challenge, at 193.3km and 2,800m of vertical ascent. 

Mulubrhan took the first Intermediate Sprint, with his team controlling the peloton. A breakaway was established, probably too big at 34 riders, and at 42km Alexandre Balmer (Solution Tech NIPPO Rali) attacked solo. 

However, Astana’s Yevgeniy Fedorov – the recently crowned Asian Continental Road Race Champion - chased him down and caught him with 5km to go. He attacked Balmer and took the win, with the peloton arriving nine seconds later. Federov into yellow.

There was not a huge amount to report on stage three; a breakaway of riders from smaller teams was allowed to go away, but the peloton reeled them in with around 2km to go. XDS Astana hit the front, with Federov both leading out team-mate Syritsa for the stage win and retaining his yellow jersey.

Stage four started with a Cat 3 climb and ended with a Cat 2, so we expected to see some action from teams hoping to challenge XDS Astana. Their only perceived weak spot, talking to some other team’s Sport Directors, was their slightly sprint-focused squad. 

The racing was tough, with the average speed over the first 50km being more than 60km/h. 

A 10-man break formed and stayed away but started to fall apart at around 35km to go. Whilst Astana seemed happy to let these small team breakaways go, we discussed in the convoy car whether missing the bonus seconds from Intermediate Sprints might hurt a rider like Henok Mulubrhan’s GC chances? 

A bunch sprint ensued and Marco Manenti (Bardiani CSF 7 Saber) got his first UCI race win of 2026 and 10 bonus seconds. Mulubrhan came in second, Federov in seventh, retaining the yellow.

Stage Five arrived: As Alexandre Mayer (Burgos Burpellet BH) said to me on the start-line, “The organisers have not been nice and have put the hardest day on the last day” and he is not wrong, with over 3,100m of vertical ascent over the 181.5km route. 

I shared on the WhatsApp group for media present that I had a feeling the Burgos team had been holding back a little and might do something today. Despite a few breakaway attempts, XDS Astana controlled the bunch, and Mulubrhan took second on the first sprint. 

Around 115km to go, an eight-man breakaway got away, including 49-year-old Oscar Sevilla and they worked together well until the serious climbing – first a Cat 2 followed by a Cat 1 – began and the break began to falter. 

At 22km to go, Burgos’ Josh Burnett got a gap and flew down the very tricky 13km descent, powering into Khankendi to win solo. It was all down to seconds at this point, and with Mulubrhan and the peloton coming in 12 seconds later, Burnett jumped from 9th in the GC to win the race. 

It was a remarkable effort from Burgos, and with Mulubrhan not taking those sprint points at various points, losing the race by just three seconds really hurt. He looked crestfallen at the finish, and winning the green jersey did not do much to assuage his disappointment. 

After five days here, some incredible scenery, food, and seeing many happy riders I can share that this has been a great race, and good to see it return to the Europe Tour. I predict a stronger start-list in 2027 as feedback spreads from the riders who took part.