Report of the Day

Stage Five: 89 km. Criterium

Venue: Tabriz Boulevard

The 5 stages of the ROAD RACES finally came to be done in the form of a Criterium. A criterium, or crit, is a cycling race consisting of several laps around a closed circuit, the length of each lap or circuit ranging from about 400 m to 10,000 m. The Criterium race in Tour of Iran-Azerbaijan, Sepember 2022, run over a relatively short distance of 8900 meters for a succession of 10 laps totaling up to 89 km.

The race started at 11:00 local time. The mild autumn weather was promising of a heated competition. The teams had already collected sufficient scores to ensure their position in the general classification of the tour; however, in individual competition, few cyclists were hopeful of changing the individual classification. MARCHAND Gianni from Tarteletto-Isorex, Belgium, was leading the other cyclists, wearing the yellow jersey. Gianni was ensured by his teammates to win the gold medal of the tour and be recognized as the BEST CYCLISTS in the tour.

The start of the race put the peloton in a relatively long line, with the Belgians leading the peloton. The first 5 laps there was no runaways and the cyclists follow the line quite calmly. It was in the sixth lap the Belgian team boosted the speed of the race and the peloton was parted into two groups. The head group comprised about 38 cyclists and the following group 18 cyclists. In the 8^th lap the groups joined together and the peloton moved swiftly forward. The attempts of the cyclists from Iran caused the other cyclists to run fast. About 300 meters to the FINISH LINE there was a crash on a road bump, and fortunately the cyclists was not hurt seriously. Soon he started the race, with blood oozing down his elbow. The following results were achieved in the criterium race:

1.  GOEMAN Andreas (103, TARTELETTO – ISOREX, Belgium)
2. MOHD ZARIFF Muhamad Nur Aiman (3, TERENGGANU POLYGON, Malaysia)
3. LABIB Ali (81, TABRIZ AZAD UNIVERSITY, Iran)

The Closing Ceremony was held in the open air and at a space in front of the gorgeous Laleh Park Shopping Center.  The national and local officials and many people had gathered to appreciate the winners of the race. First the Mayor of the city Tabriz awarded the winners of the last stage with medals and souvenirs. Then, the cyclists, managers, coaches, officials and the people listened to the TECHNICAL REPORT of the 35^th Tour read by the Acting President of Iran Cycling Federation. According to the report, the following results were gained:

INDIVIDUAL COMPETITION STANDINGS:

1. MARCHAND Gianni (102, TARTELETTO – ISOREX, Belgium)
2. SAFARZADEH Saeid (31, ARVICH SHARGH OMIDNIA, Iran)
3. YEMANE Dawit (41, Bike Aid, Germany)

TEAM COMPETITION STANDINGS:

1. TARTELETTO – ISOREX, Belgium
2. THAILAND CONTINENTAL CYCLING TEAM, Thailand
3. BIKE AID, Germany

INDIVIDUAL WINNERS OF THE JERSEYS:

• Yellow Jersey: MARCHAND Gianni (TARTELETTO – ISOREX, Belgium)
• GREEN JERSEY: GANJKHANLOU Mohammad (AZAD UNIVERSITY TABRIZ)
• POLKA JERSEY: SAFARZADEH Saeid (ARVICH SHARGH OMIDNIA, Iran)
• WHITE JERSEY: LABIB (AZAD UNIVERSITY TABRIZ)

The 35th International Cycling Tour of Iran-Azerbaijan (September 29-October 3, 2022) came to an end in Tabriz, the Capital city in East Azerbaijan Province, Iran. Some 62 cyclists from 11 teams started the 5 stages of the Tour and 56 cyclists passed the last FINISH LINE. The whole stages of the race comprised 770 kilometers. The eleven cycling teams participated in the Tour including:

1. TSG-TERENGGANU POLYGON CYCLING TEAM from Malaysia
2. PRO-PROTOUCH from Republic of South Africa
3. ASO-ARVICH SHARGH OMIDNIA from Iran
4. BAI-BIKE AID from Germany
5. RJS-ROOJAI CYCLING TEAM from Indonesia
6. SUT-SIDI ALI-UNLOCK TEAM from Morocco
7. TCC-THAILAND CONTINENTAL CYCLING TEAM from Thailand
8. TIS-TARTELETTO-ISOREX from Belgium
9. INT-IRAN NATIONAL TEAM
10. UTA-TABRIZ AZAD UNIVERSITY from Iran
11. IRA-IRAQ NATIONAL TEAM

The Iran-Azerbaijan Cycling Tour has the prestigious status of being one of the cycling tours in Asia with a rich organizational background. The Tour was first established in 1986 and the first road races was performed around the URMIA LAKE, the salty lake which is now threaten to be dried out. Many cyclists participated in the tour and some left deep footprints on the roads of Azerbaijan (Iranian Province). They were retired and new cyclists continued the race. So let’s hope that this fantastic Tour will continue as far as a person enjoys riding a bicycle to replace all the pollution producing machinery in the world.

Good Luck for all of you and see you again in Azerbaijan in September 2023.

Reported by: Abdullah Bageri Hamidi, begerihamidi@gmail.com