(MENAFN- The Peninsula)
The Peninsula
Doha: Qatar cycling team returned home on Saturday night after achieving impressive results at the four-day Tour of Salalah in Oman.
Talented young rider, Bilal Al Saadi claimed overall second place on the Tour which marked major improvement for Qatar riders.
Al Saadi, 22, also won the best young rider jersey after placing 5th, 3rd, 1st and 17th on each day of the race.
After eight and a half hours of racing, tour winner Jaber Al Mansoori (UAE) lay just 38 seconds ahead of the youngster, with a 2 min 8 second gap back to Mostafa Alrabie (KSA) in third place.
The tour comprised of a variety of tests. The prologue being just six kilometers and the first of two stages where Team Qatar would win the team prize – aided by a win from Ahmed Elbourdainy, ahead of Qatari team-mate Abdullah Al Jaidi, with Bilal Al Saadi securing 5th place.
Al Saadi's most impressive performance came on the 101 kilometer third stage,which finished at 900meters altitude after a long climb. An eleven-man group escaped from the main field as the race headed up the switch-back road into the Dhofar mountains but just four remained to contest the sprint.
The Qatari rider took a well-deserved win and ranks this as his best ever result.
Returning to Qatar with an overall second place, a Young Rider jersey, a bronze medal in the points competition, fourth in the team competition, two stage wins and five podium placings - the 2021 Tour of Salalah is emphatically the Qatar National Cycling Team's most successful racing to date.
Present at the race, Jamal Al Kuwari, Qatar Cycling Federation's executive director, expressed his pride in the team's performance against strong opposition in hot and humid conditions.
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