# Tour of Azerbaijan (Iran)

Tour of Azerbaijan (Iran), also known as the Tour of Iranian Azerbaijan or Azerbaijan Tour is an annual multiple stage road bicycle racing held in Iran since 1986, named after Iranian Azerbaijan. It is a UCI 2.1 category race and is part of the UCI Asia Tour.

## History

Tour of Azerbaijan (Iran) was established in 1986 by Asghar Khodayari and Akbar Goharkhani, with the name 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. 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, Team Illuminate, announced their participation in the race. They said they wanted 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 organizers of the tour announced that the schedule of the following years will be in May as usual.
In 2020 and 2021, the race was not held.

## Past winners

| Year | First place | Second place | Third place |
| Tour of Azerbaijan ||||
| 1986 | Mohammad Reza Bajoul (IRN) | Davoud Zeynali (IRN) | Abdolqasem Rahmaniyan (IRN) |
| 1987 | Mohammad Reza Bajoul (IRN) | Hassan Milani (IRN) | Ahad Pourniyazi (IRN) |
| 1988 | Mohammad Reza Bajoul (IRN) | Akbar Amjadi (IRN) | Mehran Safarzadeh (IRN) |
| 1989 | Hossein Mahmoudi (IRN) | Mostafa Chaychi (IRN) | Alireza Zangiabadi (IRN) |
| 1990 | Hossein Mahmoudi (IRN) | Abas Ismaili (IRN) | Alireza Zangiabadi (IRN) |
| 1991 | Tamer Avral (TUR) | Ayhan Aytakin (TUR) | Jamal Sheykhooni (SYR) |
| 1992 | Hassan Sharifzadeh (IRN) | Khosrow Qamari (IRN) | Hussain Eslami (IRN) |
| 1993 | Kasta Kolov (TKM) | Majid Vafaei (IRN) | Azari (IRN) |
| 1994 | Dmitrij Katmakov (TKM) | Majid Sheyk (SYR) | Manis Shabloni (ARM) |
| 1995 | Yurij Chekov (KAZ) | Valery Tityev (KGZ) | Hossein Askari (IRN) |
| 1996 | Sergej Belousov (KAZ) | Ahad Kazemi (IRN) | Kosonov (KAZ) |
| 1997 | Andrey Mizurov (KAZ) | Valery Titiyov (KAZ) | Sergej Belousov (KAZ) |
| 1998 | Ahad Kazemi (IRN) | Ghader Mizbani (IRN) | Andrej Kashin (KAZ) |
| 1999 | Ahad Kazemi (IRN) | Hossein Askari (IRN) | Ghader Mizbani (IRN) |
| 2000 | Ghader Mizbani (IRN) | Hossein Maleki (IRN) | Ahad Kazemi (IRN) |
| 2001 | Ahad Kazemi (IRN) | Hossein Askari (IRN) | Vazgen Golijaniyan (ARM) |
| 2002 | Ghader Mizbani (IRN) | Mert Mutlu (TUR) | Ahad Kazemi (IRN) |
| 2003 | Ahad Kazemi (IRN) | Mehdi Sohrabi (IRN) | Pawel Novdak (TUR) |
| 2004 | Alexey Kolessov (KAZ) | Mostafa Rezaei Khormizi (IRN) | Mert Mutlu (TUR) |
| 2005 | Ghader Mizbani (IRN) | Ahad Kazemi (IRN) | Omar Hasanein (SYR) |
| 2006 | Ghader Mizbani (IRN) | Ahad Kazemi (IRN) | Mostafa Rezaei Khormizi (IRN) |
| 2007 | Hossein Askari (IRN) | Ghader Mizbani (IRN) | Rahim Ememi (IRN) |
| 2008 | Hossein Askari (IRN) | Ghader Mizbani (IRN) | Ahad Kazemi (IRN) |
| 2009 | Ahad Kazemi (IRN) | Hossein Askari (IRN) | Ghader Mizbani (IRN) |
| 2010 | Ghader Mizbani (IRN) | Amir Zargari (IRN) | Hossein Askari (IRN) |
| 2011 | Mehdi Sohrabi (IRN) | Hossein Askari (IRN) | Ghader Mizbani (IRN) |
| 2012 | Javier Ramírez (ESP) | Abbas Saeidi Tanha (IRN) | Hossein Askari (IRN) |
| Tour of Iran (Azarbaijan) ||||
| 2013 | Ghader Mizbani (IRN) | Milan Kadlec (CZE) | Amir Kolahdozhagh (IRN) |
| 2014 | Ghader Mizbani (IRN) | Samad Pourseyedi (IRN) | Ramin Mehrabani (IRN) |
| 2015 | Samad Pourseyedi (IRN) | Rahim Ememi (IRN) | Ramin Mehrabani (IRN) |
| 2016 | Samad Pourseyedi (IRN) | Ahad Kazemi (IRN) | Rahim Ememi (IRN) |
| 2017 | Rob Ruijgh (NED) | Ilya Davidenok (KAZ) | Nicola Toffali (ITA) |
| 2018 | Dmitry Sokolov (RUS) | Meron Abraham (ERI) | Venantas Lašinis (LTU) |
| 2019 | Savva Novikov (RUS) | Cristian Raileanu (MDA) | Youcef Reguigui (ALG) |
| 2022 | Gianni Marchand (BEL) | Saeid Safarzadeh (IRN) | Dawit Yemane (ERI) |
| 2023 | Saeid Safarzadeh (IRN) | Anatoliy Budyak (UKR) | Anton Kuzmin (KAZ) |

### Multiple winners

| Number of wins | Rider | Country | Years |
| 7 | Ghader Mizbani | IRN | 2000, 2002, 2005, 2006, 2010, 2013, 2014 |
| 5 | Ahad Kazemi | IRN | 1998, 1999, 2001, 2003, 2009 |
| 3 | Mohammad Reza Bajoul | IRN | 1986, 1987, 1988 |
| 2 | Hossein Mahmoudi | IRN | 1989, 1990 |
| 2 | Hossein Askari | IRN | 2007, 2008 |
| 2 | Samad Pourseyedi | IRN | 2015, 2016 |