Tour of Azerbaijan (Iran), also known as the Tour of Iranian Azerbaijan or Azerbaijan Tour is an annual multiple stage

road bicycle racing Road bicycle racing is the cycle sport discipline of road cycling, held primarily on Road surface, paved roads. Road racing is the most popular professional sport, professional form of bicycle racing, in terms of numbers of competitors, events and ...

held in

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

since 1986, named after

Iranian Azerbaijan Azerbaijan or Azarbaijan ( fa, آذربایجان, ''Āzarbāijān'' ; az-Arab, آذربایجان, ''Āzerbāyjān'' ), also known as Iranian Azerbaijan, is a historical region in northwestern Iran that borders Iraq, Turkey, the Nakhchivan ...

. It is a UCI 2.1 category race and is part of the

UCI Asia Tour The UCI Continental Circuits are a series of road bicycle racing competitions which were introduced in 2005 by the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) to expand cycling around the world. The five circuits (representing the continents of Africa, th ...

. Tour of Iran (Azerbaijan) is the most prestigious cycling tour in Iran and it is the oldest standing cycling tour in Asia. The tour routes commences from

Tabriz Tabriz ( fa, تبریز ; ) is a city in northwestern Iran, serving as the capital of East Azerbaijan Province. It is the List of largest cities of Iran, sixth-most-populous city in Iran. In the Quri Chay, Quru River valley in Iran's historic Aze ...

the largest city in

and it passes through Lake Urmia,

Urmia Urmia or Orumiyeh ( fa, ارومیه, Variously transliterated as ''Oroumieh'', ''Oroumiyeh'', ''Orūmīyeh'' and ''Urūmiyeh''.) is the largest city in West Azerbaijan Province of Iran and the capital of Urmia County. It is situated at an alt ...

, Jolfa,

Meshginshahr Meshgin Shahr ( fa, مشگين شهر, also Romanized as Meshgīn Shahr; also known as Meshkīn Shahr or simply Mishgin; formerly Khiav ( fa, خياو), also Romanized as Kheyāv, Khīāv, Khiov, Khīyāv, and Khiyov) is a city and capital of Mes ...

Sareyn Sareyn ( fa, سرعين, also Romanized as Sar‘eyn, Sara’eyn, Sar‘eīn, Sar ‘Eyn, and Sarein) is a city in the Central District of Sareyn County, Ardabil province, Iran, and serves as capital of the county. At the 2006 census, its ...

and Kaleybar, and then it finishes at Tabriz.

History

Tour of Azerbaijan (Iran) established on 1986 by Asghar Khodayari and Akbar Goharkhani with the name of ''Tour de Urmia Lake''. The stages of the tour were modified several times. In 2010 one stage of the tour was held in Nakhichevan, an autonomous republic of

Azerbaijan Azerbaijan (, ; az, Azərbaycan ), officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, , also sometimes officially called the Azerbaijan Republic is a transcontinental country located at the boundary of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is a part of th ...

. In 2013 ''Azerbaijan International Cycling Tour'' was renamed to ''Tour of Azerbaijan (Iran)''. In 2016 for the first time a cycling team from the United States, , announced to participate in the race. They said they want to show "how cycling can connect people". The 32nd edition of the tour rescheduled from May to October to avoid coincidence with Iran's presidential election. The authority of the tour announced that the schedule of the following years will be on May as usual. In 2020 and 2021 the race was not disputed.

Past winners

Multiple winners

References

External links

* *
Statistics
at ''the-sports.org''
Azerbaïjan Tour
at ''cqranking.com''
video of 2010 tour
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tour of Azerbaijan Iran Cycle races in Iran UCI Asia Tour races Recurring sporting events established in 1986 1986 establishments in Iran Azerbaijan (Iran) Tour of Azerbaijan (Iran) winners Sport in Tabriz Spring (season) events in Iran