Maxim Iglinskiy claimed the first edition of the Tour of Almaty on Sunday as he left the remaining five riders in the breakaway group marooned with 20km to go. Iglinskiy crossed the line alone to take an excellent solo win.

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 when analysing the race on the Astana website.

Iglinskiy’s team-mate Alexey Lutsenko was also in the breakaway, but rode conservatively behind the remaining trio and was ready to counter-attack if Iglinskiy was reeled back in.

"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.