Before the Pune Grand Tour traveled to the city, the largest international cycle race in India to date, Surya Thathu’s voice crackled with pride as a test ride on the outskirts revealed stunning views of gigantic jagged rock climbs and beautiful flowers. “Just like France,” he commented.
171 international runners took on the newly renovated race routes over 4 stages, as India ambitiously hosts a road race that can look and feel like the famous pelotons of Europe. Pro team and national team riders have flown in from below-freezing temperatures to get an early start to their season, as Pune He began to rekindle his old romance with the Bombay-Poona race, with which he has been crowned “Ghaatancha Raja” (King of Climbing).
Surya, a Kashmiri Pandit, who now calls himself a steadfast Punekar, has been selected for the Indian team as a sprint specialist. The 27-year-old had switched wheels from roller skating to a racing bike.
Harshveer Singh Sekhon, an expert and versatile cyclist from ludhianaHe was the first of these converts from skating to cycling. He even attended the 2018 Jakarta Asian Games as a figure skater. Once Harshveer became successful, the late CFI vice-president Pratap Jadhav, who passed away a year ago, set about cajoling Surya, another skateboarder, into making a permanent change, hooking him up with a premium carbon fiber bike.
by Indian brand leader GIANT, Pravin Patil.
On Monday, as the city struggled patiently, or motherly, with traffic disruptions, another skater-turned-cyclist, Hashveer Singh Sekhon, finished with the best prologue results (like F1 pole position) among Indians. Harshveer had been skating for 14 years since 2004, but switched after his senior runners from Punjab did not push him much. His father played kabaddi and his mother played hockey. “They motivated me to achieve what they couldn’t in the sport, the elders lent me their expensive bicycles. From day 1, I synchronized and knew I was good,” he says.
Surya’s father left Kashmir in 1990 and settled in Dalhousie, where he was born. His work took the family south and, apart from skating, Surya enjoyed racing his bike on every hill in Pune from the beginning. “Even before I changed sports, I used to go from Pimpri to Balewadi or Viman Nagar on morning rides like any Pune kid on a bike. I love the feeling of riding in a group (peloton) and breaking away,” he says.
A second-hand German-designed Mérida bicycle on its first interuniversity in 2021, when cycling was still “passing time.” He finished a surprising fourth place, and his old-fashioned steel Atlas bike helped him break the ice with his father, who thought he would suffer culture shock when he brought up the topic of professional sports. “Kashmiri Pandit family. All doctors or engineers. Very academic-oriented. Sports didn’t stand a chance. But I had secretly convinced my mother to lend me money for a better bike. But after inter-university I got the courage to tell my father, ‘Dad, ab 40,000 ki bike leni hogi’.” It became an emotional moment.
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An accident in October 2022, in which he was hit from behind by a bike truck on these same roads in Pune and his shoulder blade was broken, forged a blood bond. “Because in two months I won the interuniversity bronze on December 31,” he laughs. Road cycling was addictive, that addictive.
Many from all over the world have come to Pune for the bug and professional driving. Some of the favorite teams include Spain and professional teams such as Li Ning from China and Terengganu from Malaysia. Team India likes to call itself the “Hit Squad” and has talented runners, including serial national champion Naveen John, who turned 40 but never stopped winning, and sprint ace Sahil.
The Bombay-Poona cycle race, once as iconic as Deccan Queen, traversed the ancient highway, while the Pune Grand Tour route meanders through urban areas and has shadow echoes of historical monuments. Pune adopted two-wheeled bicycles and scooters long ago, leaving the humble cycle sidelined on the famous roads. But the Grand Tour revives an old connection, although the bikes now look sleek with carbon fiber replacing the steel frames of yesteryear.