At Pune Grand Tour, cyclist trades skates for cycle wheels to fulfill dreams

Before the Pune Grand Tour underway in the city, the biggest international cycling race in India till date, Surya Thathu’s voice crackled with pride as a trial run on the outskirts revealed stunning vistas of giant jagged rock face climbs, and pretty blossoms. “Just like France,” he would remark.

171 international riders hit the newly spruced up 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 squad riders have flown in from sub-zero temperatures to start their season early, as Pune began to rekindle its old romance with the Bombay-Poona race, which has been crowned “Ghaatancha Raja” (King of the Climbs).

Surya, a Kashmiri Pandit, who calls himself a firm Punekar now, has been selected to the Indian team as a sprint specialist. The 27-year-old had switched wheels from roller skating to a road racing cycle.

Harshveer Singh Sekhon, a savvy all-round rider from Ludhiana, was the first of these converts from skating to cycling. He even went to the 2018 Jakarta Asian Games as a skater. Once Harshveer found success, the late CFI vice president Pratap Jadhav, who passed away a year ago, got busy cajoling Surya, another skater, to make a permanent shift, by hooking him up with a premium carbon fibre cycle by brand GIANT’s India pointman Pravin Patil.

On Monday, even as the city patiently, or mutteringly, grappled with traffic disruptions, another skater-turned-cyclist, Hashveer Singh Sekhon, ended with the best finishes at the prologue (like F1’s pole position), among Indians. Harshveer had skated for 14 years since 2004, but shifted after not-much-prodding by his Punjab senior riders. His father played kabaddi and mother played hockey. “They motivated me to achieve what they couldn’t in sport, seniors lent me their expensive bikes. From Day 1, I synced and knew I was good,” he says.

Surya’s father left Kashmir in 1990 and settled in Dalhousie where he was born. His job brought the family south, and besides skating, Surya took an early liking for sprinting on every climb in Pune on his cycle. “Even before I changed sport, I’d go from Pimpri to Balewadi or Viman Nagar on early morning rides like every Pune kid on a bicycle. I love the feeling of riding in a group (peloton) and breaking away,” he says.

A second-hand German-designed Merida bike at his first inter-University in 2021 while cycling was still “time pass”. It ended in a surprise 4th place, and his antiquated steel Atlas bike helped him break the ice with his father who he reckoned would have a culture shock when he broached talk of pro sport. “Kashmiri Pandit family. All doctors or engineers. Very academics oriented. Sport had no chance. But I’d secretly convinced my mum to lend me money for a better bike. But after the inter-University I gathered courage to tell my father, ‘Dad, ab 40,000 ki bike leni hogi’.” It turned into an emotional moment.

An accident in October 2022, where he was hit from behind by a truck on the bike on these same Pune roads, and his scapula shoulder blade bone broken, forged a bond in blood. “Because I won inter-university bronze on December 31 within two months,” he laughs. Road cycling was addictive, like that.

Many bitten by the bike bug and riding professionally have dropped down to Pune from around the world. Some of the fancied teams include Spain, and pro squads like Li Ning of China and Malaysian Terengganu. Team India likes to call itself the “Hit Squad” and has talented riders including serial national champ, Naveen John, who turned 40 but never stopped winning, and sprint ace Sahil.

The Bombay-Poona cycle race, once as iconic as the Deccan Queen, traversed the old highway, while the Pune Grand Tour route winds through urban sprawls and has echoing shadows of historical monuments. Pune embraced two-wheeler bikes and scooties long back, and the humble cycle got sidelined on the notorious roads. But the Grand Tour revives an old connection, though cycles now look snazzy with carbon fibre replacing the steel gaunts of yore.

Shivani Naik is a senior sports journalist and Assistant Editor at The Indian Express. She is widely... Read More