Astana Cycling Team

Photos by Vesti.kz

Maxim Iglinskiy won the first edition of the Tour of Almaty on Sunday, attacking his 5-man breakaway group with 20km to the finish to cross the line with nobody else in the picture.

Iglinskiy, who started  the 186km circuit race for the Kazakhstan National Team, rather than his professional Astana Pro Team, finished with a 30-second advantage over Italian rider Sonny Colbrelli, who beat Kazakhstan's Ruslan Tleubayev in an elite group sprint.

"The organizers put on a very good race for us here today, with a lot of strong international teams who can do really well on a course like this. Our breakaway had some real firepower, but I knew that on the final lap the chasing teams would possibly be able to get across the hill and catch us, so I went out solo to try my legs," Iglinskiy said.

Alexey Lutsenko was also in Iglinskiy's breakaway, but rode safely behind the remaining trio as insurance against any potentially successful chase by the escapees.

"Our chances to win a sprint were really good with Alexey, but against so many sprinters it was a risk we didn't need to wait for, so I put in a big effort despite the hot weather. For 20 minutes I suffered, but at the finish all the pain went away and I was so happy to take this win at home," Iglinskiy said.

Kazakhstan's southern metropolis was slightly warmer than usual on Sunday, with temperatures above 30C and a bright sun. Thousands of fans lined the 31km circuit, while many miliions were able to watch the last hour of competition live on international television.

Astana Pro Team General Manager Alexandr Vinokurov said Sunday's first ever Tour of Almaty was a great success for international cycling in Kazakhstan.

"Our dream to develop cycling in Kazakhstan has come a long way in the last two years, but we knew that without a big event at home it would be difficult to bring the action to the fans. Thanks to our sponsor Astana Motors, the Mayor's office in Almaty, the Kazakh Cycling Federation and KazSport TV we got to show our best side today, and we couldn't be happier. Max rode to a beautiful victory, and millions of people got to see Almaty on international television. We are already excited about how we can make it even bigger and better in 2014," Vinokurov said.

Astana Pro Team PR

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