RIYADH: Although only a small field gathered for the Carrefour Le Mall 70km road race, it was a race full of action and excitement, thanks to the presence of the young Saudi riders who were determined to do all they could to get their star rider Sultan onto the podium.

After a steady start, a series of early attacks from Norberto Daa and Geron Guanlao had Rob Patrick and some of the older generation working hard to close the gaps and when quizzed on the tactic later, they admitted to only trying to keep warm!

When the decisive attack did come, it came predictably from the Saudi squad, and within a few 100 meters had achieved their objective by splitting the group, with only Alex Carinan and Guanlao for company.

After a few kilometers, Sultan’s teammates pulled over, their job done and waited on the line to witness the finale.

The sprint started before the last corner and with the line fast approaching, Sultan appeared to cross the path of a charging Carinan, taking his wheel from under him, also bringing down Guanlao.

However, after an appeal, the video footage of the sprint was examined by the rules committee and it was decided Sultan had infringed, which had him relegated to last position in his group.

The chase pack came in a minute later; with the Pinoy sprint express hitting the front and former RW Champion Jaime Sunga holding off Edwin Seneres, Rodel Flores and “Super Senior,” Jiri Kuba.

Results:

1 Alex Carinan, 2 Geron Guanlao, 3 Sultan Asiri, 4 Jaime Sunga, 5 Edwin Seneres, 6 Rodel Flores, 7 Jiri Kuba, 8 Edwardo Cabuco, 9 Rob Patrick, 10 Reiner Gocian, 11 George Morete, 12 Adolfo Cuesta, 13 Scott Waight, 14 Jose Altavas, 15 Ruban Silvan, 16 New Member, 17 David Dela, 18 Romeo Carreon, 19 Fernando Requillo, 20 Jana Jaruskova, 21 Pascal Kuba, DNF Joseph Saluta, Norberto Daa, Saad, Day Member, Talal Mahfouz, New Member, Bob Paluf, Rene Bitong, Ahmad Al Ahmad.

Categories:

Open: Alex Carinan

Veteran: Jaime Sunga

Master: Edwin Seneres

Senior: Jiri Kuba.

Category B: Jana Jaruskova

Junior: Pascal Kuba