RIYADH: The start of the Riyadh Wheelers-Novartis Consumer Health 50km RR was delayed by 30 minutes by an unfortunate clash of venues with the Riyadh Drifters.
After watching the impressive display, the 35 riders got down to the serious business of racing in the mild conditions.
In an almost festive mood, no one in the bunch wanted to start the action it seemed, until Ian Davies took off alone which soon put an end to the light hearted banter.
Strongmen Patrice Delile and Gaetan Contrino, chose the hardest part of the course to launch their attack and soon were up to the fading Davies who was unable to keep pace and came back to the now fragmented bunch.
The hard work put in by Kelvin Bowers and Bruno Syfrig was not good enough to reduce the flying Frenchmen’s lead.
With 12km to go, Bowers eventually put some distance between himself and the chasers, which prompted Alex Carinan and Rob Patrick to bridge the gap. After loosing Carinan the duo were never to be seen again.
In the sprint for the line, Delile was too quick for Contrino, while Bowers paid for his earlier efforts and succumbed to Patrick, who recorded his best placing.
A furious sprint for 5th place went to Herbert Rom from Carinan, Syfrig, George Morete and Paul Soycon, with the remainder of the shattered chase group struggling home in the rising wind.
Freda Gocian retained top spot in Category B from Katerina Holeckova, while some spirited racing amongst a closely balance Masters group saw Paul McParland outsprint Tom Walton and Reiner Gocian.
RESULTS
1st P.Delile 1:16:42; 2nd G.Contrino; 3rd R.Patrick; 4th K.Bowers; 5th H.Rom; 6th A.Carinan; 7th B.Syfrig; 8th G.Morete; 9th P.Soycon; 10th I.Davies; 11th J.Sunga; 12th P.McParland; 15th T.Walton; 16th R.Gocian; 15th R.Delos Santos; 16th H.Kilpatrick; 17th J.Javier; 18th J.Damance; 19th J.Cordial; 20th D.Nicholls; 21st P.Foster; 22nd C.Laoagan; 23rd A.De Leon; 24th P.Casey; 25th J.Currie; 26th F.Gocian; 27th L.Phillips; 28th F.Requillo; 29th P.Green; 30th K.Holeckova; 31st C.Rillera; 32nd L.Ordonez; 33rd E.Donnellan. DNF T.Kiernan, A.Maniago; DNS R.Myres, D.Aubrey.
Open category: Alex Carinan.
Veterans: Patrice Delile.
Master: Rob Patrick.
Senior: Catalino Laoagan.
Category B: Freda Gocian.
