RIYADH, 9 April 2004 — Christiaan Beyers again proved his pedigree by claiming the Almarai 100k road race. The penultimate and longest event of the season saw 35 cyclists at the start line get their brief from timer Mick Cook. Immediately after the neutral lap Beyers broke and despite an attempt by fellow Dhahran cyclist John Poore he continued to stretch his advantage while the peloton seemed content to wrestle for second spot.

Khaled Ali, Redeen Platil and George Morete broke away dropping top Pinoy Jaime Sunga and John Poore. Khaled Ali proved much too strong for the other two in his group and pulled away after lap 3 to chase the solitary Beyers. With a 4-minute lead for the last lap a fading Beyers managed to keep Ali at bay and win by only 37 seconds. Beyers admitted he had found it tough staying out in front and would have had trouble keeping the lead had the race been any longer.

The battle for 3rd and 4th was settled when Redeen Platil, having his best ride of the season, pulled 10 seconds clear of George Morete. The two lone riders Poore and Sunga helped each other round and Sunga’s sprint saw him pip the incumbent Chairman of the Dhahran cycling club into 6th. A 9-rider peloton followed next including Matt Hughs and Lauren Pentlebury who, after being dropped initially, had battled hard to catch the riders in front. Gary Swinburne was unlucky to be knocked out, with 1 lap remaining when a touch of wheels saw him break 5 spokes.

With 200m left there was a mass sprint for the line almost ending in catastrophe as both Dryden and Pentlebury were nearly knocked of their bikes. Despite the wobbles Edwin Seneres who had worked hard in this group took the honours, from Matt Hughs, Fernando Ranola, Ruel Delos Reyes, Reiner Gocian, Paul Tupman, Rudy Murillo, Charlie Dryden and Lauren Pentlebury who took the B Cat top spot ahead of Kathy Malone and Kim Allan. For the record there were 9 DNF’s.

Results: A Cat. 1. C. Beyers 2:35:40, 2. K. Ali 2:36:17, 3. R. Platil 2:43:50, 4. G. Morete 2:44:00, 5. J. Sunga 2:45:37, 6. J. Poore 2:45:38, 7. E. Seneres, 8. M. Hughs, 9. F. Ranola, 10, R. D. Reyes, 11. R. Gocian, 12. P. Tupman 2:53:26. B Cat. 1. L. Pentlebury 2:53:26, 2. K. Malone 3:15:02, 3. K. Allan 3:31:23.