DOHA (Qatar): Abdullah Al Jaaidi of Team Doha Cycling won the third stage of Qatar Cycling Federation’s road race on Friday to emerge as one of the favourites for the National Championship title.
Al Jaaidi snatched victory over Murrin and team-mate Mouhcine Rhaili with Hamad Al Jaaidi (Team Doha Cycling) and Fadhel Al Khater (Rasen Adventure Shop) edged out from the podium.
The organisers added an additional novice classification to this event to accommodate the new riders joining the sport for the first time with a total of 155 riders took part in the competition.
The Al Ghuwayriyah course is a favourite among racers for its rural setting and interesting triangular multi-lap course which offers sections of just five to six kilometres apiece of headwind, cross-wind and tail wind, each of which contribute to the tactics of bunch racing.
With the first section into the head wind, Khaleel Abduljanan (Team Doha Cycling) and Abdulla Al- Khater attacked from the gun, taking a gamble that nobody would waste energy giving chase.
This pair built a good lead of 1m 30s while behind them the Team Al Jassra combination of Lee Jones and Chris Murrin were putting in repeated surges which fractured the race. By the time the catch was made at 30 km, six riders had already been dropped and, with the wind strength increasing, the remaining riders would now split in half again.
The final six of the 90km were wind-assisted, which strips away some of the advantage to the sheltered riders drafting off those in front.
Team Doha Cycling launched a long-range attack at 60 kph and again it was Team Al Jassra who chased them down. This time Lee Jones did all the work to save Chris Murrin’s legs for the sprint to the line, but to no avail.
This was to be Abdullah Al Jaaidi’s third road podium of the season and his first time on the top step. With no other Qatari riders challenging him this year, he is now a strong favourite for the National Championships at the end of the month.
