The second stage of the UCI 2.1 category “Baku–Khankendi” Azerbaijan Cycling Race has concluded. On this race day, cyclists covered a distance of 193.3 km from “Sea Breeze” to Ismayilli. The stage featured a challenging profile with 3 mountain climbs and 2 sprint classifications, and was marked by a change in the overall leader.
The winner of the stage was Yevgeniy Fedorov of Kazakhstan’s “XDS Astana” WorldTour team, who crossed the finish line first with a time of 4 hours, 41 minutes, and 38 seconds. Alexandre Balmer of Italy’s “Solution Tech NIPPO Rali” pro-continental club finished second, while Eric Antonio Fagundez of Spain’s “Burgos Burpellet BH” pro-continental team took the third place.
The awards were presented to the distinguished cyclists by Nahid Baghirov, Head of the Ismayilli District Executive Power, and Sahib Alakbarov, the First Vice-President of the Azerbaijan Cycling Federation and Chairman of the Organizing Committee of the “Baku–Khankendi” Azerbaijan Cycling Race.
The stage victory also allowed Yevgeniy Fedorov to take the lead in the general classification and claim the blue jersey presented by “Silkway West Airlines”. He also secured the green jersey for the best sprinter, presented by “Sea Breeze”. The jerseys were awarded to him by the race’s honorary guest, Kazakhstan’s Alexander Vinokurov, the winner of the road cycling event at the London 2012 Summer Olympic Games.
Lennert Tögelz of Belgium’s “Tarteletto-Izorex” continental club won the red mountain leader’s jersey presented by Azerbaijan Airlines. Iker Gomez of Spain’s “Equipo Kern Pharma” continental team earned the white jersey for the best young rider, presented by “Azvirt”. These jerseys were presented to the athletes by Fikrat Huseynov, the Executive Vice-President of the Azerbaijan Cycling Federation.
In tomorrow’s third stage, cyclists will start in the city of Gabala and cover a distance of 162.9 km to Mingachevir.
