Marko Kump (Adria Mobil) won the bunch sprint  of the first stage of the Tour d’Azerbaidjan. He crossed the finish line in Sumqayit just ahead of Francesco Chicchi (Androni Giacattoli)  and Maksym Averin (Synergy Baku Cycling Project). That win also gave Marko Kump the first leader’s jersey in the race.

A three-man escape group dominated the stage, which ran 154 kilometers from Baku to Sumqayit. The stage also featured the race’s first ranked climb, with the points and jersey going to Elchin Asadov (Synergy Baku Cycling Project). The points jersey went to Kump.

The day started out cloudy but the sun worked its way out to shine on the first stage of the race. Shortly after taking off, a three-man 
escape group formed, with Elchin Asadov (Synergy Baku Cycling Project), Christopher Williams (Novo Nordisk) and Zoltan Sipos (National Team Hungary). Andrei Piashkun (Minsk Cycling Club) gave chase but was unable to catch the leading trio. They built up a lead of up to five minutes.

The first ranked climb of the race came at km 58, with Asadov first across the line, giving the homeland team Synergy Baku the first climber’s jersey of this race.

At the first of the three intermediate sprints along the way, at km 70, Sipos claimed the first points, as he also did at the second sprint.

The sprinters’s teams weren’t going to lose their chance, and by the time the field set out on the 10 km closing city circuit course, the 
gap had dropped to two minutes. The three leaders were caught on the third of five laps. Almost immediately, Radoslav Rogina (Adria Mobil) 
and Andrej Krasilnikau (Minsk Cycling Club) started the next attack, but they didn’t build up much of a lead.

Rogina was caught on the penultimate lap, and Krasilnikau shortly after the start of the final lap. Synergy Baku set up the sprint, but it 
was Kump who proved to have the fastest legs in the field.