Southland professional Josh Burnett has bagged a brilliant GC victory in the UCI 2.1 level Baku-Khankendi Azerbaijan stage race.
Racing in his second year for Burgos Burpellet BH – the team that Aaron Gate and George Jackson also rode for – Burnett won the fifth and final stage to claim the GC honours in the five-day race.
Gate, riding for his XDS Astana World Tour team in the same race, was also in contention going into the final mountains stage.
Burnett won the stage, prevailing after a late crash in the peloton, and claim the bonus to secure the overall GC honours by three seconds, with Gate 15th overall.
Burnett is enjoying an outstanding year, having won the rejigged Tour of Southland in January, runner-up to George Bennett in the national championships, and the mountains jersey in the Vuelta an Andalucia in Spain just two weeks after returning to Europe.
Last month the Kiwi rider enjoyed a strong effort in the World Tour monument, Liege-Bastogne-Liege.
🎥: Africa Rising Cycling