Mudgway dominates inaugural Pune Grand Tour; crowned overall winner

Luke Mudgway of New Zealand crowned a dominant week for Li Ning Star (China) as he emerged the overall winner of the inaugural Bajaj Pune Grand Tour, which concluded with a city-centre finale here on Friday.

After four demanding stages covering 437 kilometres, Li Ning Star topped the team General Classification with a combined time of 28:41:19, underlining its control and consistency across the tour. Spanish ProTeam Burgos Burpellet BH finished second (28:42:09), while Malaysia’s Terengganu Cycling Team ( 28:48:19) completed the podium.

Mudgway, 29, sealed the individual General Classification in 09:33:04, finishing 14 seconds ahead of Alan Carter Bettles of Roojai Insurance Winspeed, Thailand, with Belgium’s Yorben Lauryssen (Tarteletto–Isorex) a further 19 seconds back. Victories on the opening two stages gave Mudgway an early buffer, allowing him to defend the yellow jersey through the remainder of the race.

“I have a really good team. They looked after me from start to finish,” Mudgway said. “We won stages with three different riders, which shows how strong we were as a unit. A lot of hard work went into the tour, and this one is for the team.”

Stage Four, a 95-km circuit through Pune’s streets, was won by Aliaksei Shnyrko of Li Ning Star, with teammate Cameron Nicholas Scott second and Dylan Hopkins (Roojai Insurance Winspeed) third, further highlighting the Chinese outfit’s dominance.

As a UCI 2.2-ranked event offering Olympic ranking points, the Pune Grand Tour marked a significant step in India’s emergence on the international cycling calendar.

The results:

General Classification: Team: Li Ning Star (China), Burgos Burpellet BH (Spain), Terengganu Cycling Team (Malaysia).

General Classification on Time – Yellow Jersey: Luke Mudgway (Li Ning Star), Carter Alan Bettles (Roojai Insurance Winspace, Thailand), Yorben Lauryssen (Tarteletto Isorex, Belgium).

General Classification on Points – Green Jersey: Luke Mudgway, Georgios Bouglas (Burgos), Carter Alan Bettles.

General Classification Mountains – Polka Dot Jersey: Clement Alleno (Burgos), Stefan Bennett (Eurocyclingtrips – CCN, Guam), Cristian Raileanu (Li Ning Star).

Best Asian Rider – Orange Jersey: Jambaljamts Sainbayar, Tegshbayar Batsaikhan, Muhammad Syelhan Nurahmat.

Best Young (U-23) Rider – White Jersey: Vigo Tussen, Tamar Spiero, Muhammad Syelhan Nurahmat.

Best Indian Rider – Blue Jersey: Harshveer Singh Sekhon, Manav Sarda, Dinesh Kumar.