Stage 2: Report & Results
Friday, September 30, 2022
The 2nd Stage of the race started at Shahgoli Park in Tabriz in a fine morning
weather at 11 a.m. local time. Some 60 cyclists were ready on the start line when
the Mayor of Tabriz started the race. The race was to be carried out at a distance of
148.9 km from Tabriz to Jolfa, a city on the borderline between Iran and Armenia.
The peloton moved swiftly on a flat plain stretched through the rolling red hills
toward the town Sophian and then through the Mountainous Misho region to the
cities Marand and Jolfa. The mild slope down caused the peloton often to keep its
integrity, with the Belgians leading the peloton almost all the route. At 12 noon
time came the results of the first SPRINT: Mohammad GANJKHANLOU (82,
from TABRIZ AZAD UNIVERSITY TEAM) won the GREEN JERSEY.
The rapid advancement of the road from Sophian to Marand introduced a mountain
cycling competition. Few cyclists ran in a furious rush toward the mountain line,
with the Belgians as a hurdle to pass over. However, the riders couldn’t hold the
pace of the Thailand rider, CHAIYASOMBAT Thanakhan (73, from TCC-
THAILAND ONTINENTAL CYCLING TEAM) whose smile marked his triumph
at the first mountain competition.
The steep slope down the road to Jolfa put the riders in a hard rush to the end of the
2 nd stage. In the last three kilometers to the finish line, while the peloton was
moving through the city, there was no way to change the position and all the riders
passed the finish line in an integrated group. The winners of the race were
identified from the shots of the Photo Finish in the following order:
1- CARSTENSEN Lucas (44, BAI-BIKE AID, GERMANY)
2- NATEGHI Mahdi (112, IRAN NATIONAL TEAM)
3- YILMAZ YUNUS (64, SUT-SIDI ALI-UNLOCK TEAM, MORclistsOCO)
The winner of the YELLOW JERSEY (General Classification) was MARCHAND Giani (102,
TIS-TARTELETTO-ISOREX, Belgium).
The WHITE JERSEY (Young Classification) was given to NZAFASHWANAYO Jean Claude
(13, PRO-PROTOUCH, Republic of South Africa).

The second day ended with two more cyclists being disqualified.
The third day of the tour will begin at 9:00 a.m. local time on Friday, October 1, 2022. It is
expected the third day to be the most challenging stage for the cyclists. The road from Jolfa to
Kalaibar is a twisting route through the forest-coved mountainous region of Gharabagh
(Arasbaran). Some steep slopes on the road will be very hard for the cyclists to tackle. However,
the spectacular scenes by the roadsides will attract the photographers to take photos.

Written by: Abdullah Bageri Hamidi