Azerbaijan, Baku, 3 May / Trend J. Alekperov /
Member of the Ukraine's ISD Continental team Vitaliy Popkov became the winner of the third stage of the Tour d` Azerbaidjan international cycle tour dedicated to the 90th anniversary of the national leader Heydar Aliyev.
The second place was taken by an athlete from the Belgian Letto Belisol team Stieg Brooks and thirds place went to the cyclist of the Synergy Baku Cycling Project team, Kristof Schweizer, leading the sprint ranking.
During the first two phases the general classification and sprint ranking were led by the cyclist of the Torku Shekersport team of Turkey, Sergey Grechin.
The third phase will take place on May 3 over the Gabala-Oguz-Sheki-Oguz-Gabala route. The cyclists starting at front of the building of the Gabala regional authority will cover a distance of 165 kilometres.
Tour d'Azerbaidjan started on May 1 and will continue till May 5. The competition is being held at five phases and involves 25 teams including 17 continental and six national and two clubs.
The fourth phase will continue on May 4 along the Gabala-Shamakhi course. Cyclists, passing 116 kilometres, will finish in front of the training centre building of the Taxes Ministry of Azerbaijan, near the observatory in Pirgulu, located at an altitude of about 1450 metres above sea level.
The final phase of the race with a length of 144 km will start on May 5 in Azadlig Square, Baku and pass the central streets and avenues of the city ending after 12 laps.
The international cycling race is being widely covered on TV channels Eurosport, Eurosport-2 and others. To this end, employees of about 40 television channels have been sent to Azerbaijan to cover the event.
