The international “Baku-Khankendi” cycling race, which concluded with a finish in the liberated and rapidly developing city of Khankendi, became an event that attracted attention far beyond Azerbaijan.
As reported by İdman.Biz, the international cycling media primarily viewed the race through a sporting lens: who attacked, who won the stages, how the teams performed and where the general classification battle was decided.
Yet it was exactly through those reports and team reactions that the race’s main significance became clear. Nine years after the last edition of the “Tour d’Azerbaijan” in 2017, Azerbaijan has once again returned to the international road cycling map.
Italian team Bardiani CSF 7 Saber described “Baku-Khankendi” even before the start as the return of high-level professional cycling to Azerbaijan after nearly a decade-long pause. For the country, this is an important distinction: it was not simply another sporting event, but the revival of a race that had once already earned its place on the international calendar.
The race also received significant international television exposure. Stages and highlights were shown on global sports platforms including Eurosport, Discovery+, HBO Max and Prime Video. In cycling, this visibility is especially important because the images of the route often matter as much as the sporting results. As the peloton moves through cities and regions, viewers also see the roads, landscapes, finish areas and atmosphere of the host country.
One of the biggest international stories came through the victory of New Zealand rider Josh Burnett from Spanish team Burgos Burpellet BH. Spanish media described his success as historic for the team: Burnett won the final stage and secured the overall classification, giving Burgos Burpellet BH one of the best results in its history.
An important detail is that it was Burnett’s first professional victory. He did not simply win a stage - on the same day he also claimed the overall title, finishing just three seconds ahead of Henok Mulubrhan from XDS Astana Team.
Another memorable moment came during the fourth stage, which finished in Naftalan. Italian rider Marco Manenti of Bardiani CSF 7 Saber claimed the first professional win of his career. The team emphasised that the result reflected the progress of its young squad, while sporting director Alessandro Donati stated after the race that Bardiani CSF 7 Saber had competed at a very high level, played a major role on every stage and returned from Azerbaijan with a victory, several strong results and two riders inside the overall top 10.
In Kazakhstan, the main focus was on the performance of XDS Astana Team. The team won two stages through Yevgeniy Fedorov and Gleb Syritsa, while Henok Mulubrhan finished second overall and fought for victory until the final day. Kazakh media highlighted not only the results themselves, but also how Astana controlled the race, worked collectively and managed the battle for the leader’s jersey.
At the same time, “Baku-Khankendi” became a race where new names were able to create their own moments alongside established riders. For Fedorov, Syritsa and Alexey Shnirko, stage victories were not new at professional level. However, the stories of Burnett and Manenti revealed another side of the race: it gave riders the opportunity to open a new chapter in their careers. In that sense, the Azerbaijani event became not only a contest for seconds and UCI points, but also a platform where emerging cyclists could introduce themselves to the wider cycling world.
The race was equally important for Azerbaijani riders. Representing the national team were Musa Mikailzade, Nofal Nuriyev, Ali Gurbanov, Shahin Eyvazov, Maksim Trendelev and Tural Israfilov. For each of them, competing in an event of this level provided experience impossible to replicate in training: several days in the same peloton as World Tour, ProTeam and strong continental squads, dealing with high speed, positional battles, difficult stages and the pressure of an international competition.
These are exactly the types of races that help local cyclists grow more quickly, understand the demands of modern road cycling and move closer to the level required to compete for stronger results in the future. For that reason, “Baku-Khankendi” is important not only as an international showcase for Azerbaijan, but also as a development platform for Azerbaijani cycling itself.
Returning to the international reaction, interest in the race also extended beyond the traditional European cycling community. Africa Rising Cycling, a platform focused on the development of African cycling, covered the participation of African riders and particularly noted the difficulty of the final stage to Khankendi. For such a platform, “Baku-Khankendi” was not simply another race on the calendar, but part of a broader story about riders from different continents gaining international exposure and experience.
The race’s final message was especially symbolic. The route concluded in Khankendi, while the multi-stage event itself passed through different regions of Azerbaijan, linking sporting drama with the country’s geography. This was a case where promoting the country worked not through slogans, but through movement - via roads, live broadcasts, team reports, highlights, riders’ posts and international media coverage.
The “Baku-Khankendi” cycling race showed that it can become more for Azerbaijan than just a sporting event lasting a few days. It has the potential to evolve into an annual story about a country seen in motion - not only through final standings, but also through its regions, routes, people and images reaching international audiences. And the more consistently this project develops, the stronger its impact can become both for Azerbaijan’s image in world sport and for the development of local cyclists.
