RIYADH: Fifty riders braved the cold and windy conditions to face the time keepers in the second 25-mile time trial of the Riyadh Wheelers cycling season. As expected at this time of year and just after the holidays, times were well below the riders best, with most just glad to get to the finish.

The winner was Thierry Mathy, who used his late starting position to gauge the speed of the riders ahead and did just enough to win by a minute from Jiri Kuba, both riders impressively going ‘under the hour’ in the conditions.

After the event, Kuba revealed this was a personal best, and was pondering at what could have been had the day dawned better. Kris Ahlin put in another solid performance, finishing a further two minutes back in third place, from the heroes of the last race, Alex Carinan and Geron Guanlao, who were still carrying their injuries but still put in top performances.

Other riders of note were, Dave Wright and Edoardo Lando, both close to their best, aided by their recent acquisition of beautiful hi-tech machines.

In the post race interviews, almost all the riders admitted to hardly touching their bikes for some time due to severe weather, both here and worldwide and were looking forward to again racing in the sun.

The Junior event was held over half distance and won by all-round athlete Alun Thomas, from Pascal Kuba and Cameron Ball.

Category ‘B’ was wrapped up by Maria Araujo from Katy Taylor with no clear favorite for their championship emerging this year.

Results:

1 T.Mathy 0:58:03,2 J.Kuba 0:59:05,3 K.Ahlin 1:00:56,4 A.Carinan 1:01:55,5 G.Guanlao 1:02:39,6 M.Ball 1:03:05,7 G.Morete 1:04:13,8 B.Girven 1:04:52,9 D.Wright 1:06:00,10 R.Patrick 1:06:46,11 G.Laurie 1:07:22,12 E.Seneres 1:08:36,13 J.Sunga 1:09:05,14 S.Elliott 1:09:25,15 E.Gabuco 1:09:46,16 J.Hymns 1:10:28,17 E.Lando 1:10:46,18 R.Flores 1:10:51,19 F.Clays 1:10:55,20 R.Gocian 1:11:21,21 D.Pottinger 1:11:29,22 R.Silvan 1:11:39,23 K.Walsh 1:13:42,24 T.Watts 1:13:47,25 D.Bennellick 1:14:12,26 J.Altavas 1:14:46,27 A.White 1:14:52,28 R.Agustin 1:18:27,W-1 M.Araujo 1:19:32,29 A.Taylor 1:20:47,30 J.Javier 1:22:26,31 R.Carreon 1:22:29,32 K.Moolman 1:22:40,33 M.Saluta 1:23:13,W-2 K.Taylor 1:24:57,34 R.Allanigue 1:26:49,35 J.Alahmed 1:27:14,36 G.Morris 1:29:37,37 C.Watters 1:29:54,38 R.Paluf 1:35:42,39 D.Ella 1:35:55,J1 A.Thomas 34:07,J2 P.Kuba 35:19,J3 C.Ball 36:12.

Categories

Open: Kris Ahlin

Veteran: Thierry Mathy

Master: George Morete

Senior: Jiri Kuba

Junior: Alun Thomas

Cat B: Maria Araujo