The first 25-mile time trial race of the Riyadh Wheelers season proved to be a speedfest, as personal bests tumbled and 6 riders went under the magic hour.

Getting ever closer to the course record held by Christiaan Beyers, Thierry Mathy posted one of the fastest times ever seen in Riyadh in winning the event by over 2 minutes, ahead of ‘supersenior’ Bruno Syfrig and young Vincent Engel whose times also put them in a class of their own.

After a tough triathlon season training and racing with Martin Ball, 4th place was the reward for Kris Ahlin who just pushed Jiri Kuba down to 6th.

Kuba is enjoying his first proper outing on his new machine and continues to improve despite now entering the senior ranks.

Eastern Province visitor Jeff Roetter, made a habit of breaking the hour, coming home clear of the next 9 riders, who were only separated by 2 minutes and such was the quality of this field.

Looking at the top performances, it can be noted the rapid improvement and strength in depth made by Filipino and Southern European riders recently, with Javier Moreno, Alex Carinan, George Morete, Geron Guanlao, Piergiorgio Parisio, Antonio Castellanos, Raul Palacious all bursting onto the scene with impressive performances, a point not missed by last year’s most improved rider Arnel Maniago, who despite putting in great rides, now struggles to get into the top 20 as cycling in Riyadh reaches new heights.

The Cat B competition was also close, Zena Hymns putting champion Veronique Mathy under some pressure with a PB and 20mph+ ride, taking many notable scalps on the way.

Two junior riders also signed on, Marcus Hills taking the title from Thomas Cudey, while in the senior event family pride was restored as their fathers reversed the honors.

As the results were being sorted the riders enjoyed fine refreshments from Carrefour Le Mall, and were much appreciated by all. The next event is the Nigel Howell Hill Climb starting at 8 a.m.

Resuts:

1 T. Mathy 55:11, 2 B. Syfrig 57:23, 3 V. Engel 57:52, 4 K. Ahlin 58:56, 5 J. Kuba 59:28, 6 J. Roetter 59:47, 7 M. Ball 1:00:49, 8 J. Villalobos Moreno 1:00:54, 9 A. Carinan 1:01:14, 10 P. Cudey 1:01:20, 11 G.M orete 1:01:21, 12 S. Jenkins 1:01:24, 13 G.Guanlao 1:01:28, 14 P.Parisio 1:01:44, 15 R.Patrick 1:01:56, 16 A. Rodriguez Castellanos 1:03:05, 17 G. Muetze 1:03:34, 18 R. Palacios 1:03:35, 19 S. Waight 1:04:03, 20 D. Hasiuk 1:04:35, 21 A. Maniago 1:05:07, 22 A.MacLachlan 1:05:27,23 P. McParland 1:05:39, 24 S. Tomlinson 1:05:51, 25 J.Hymns 1:05:56, 26 A. Geara 1:05:59, 27 M. Gauval 1:06:38, 28 F. Nevola 1:06:39, 29 E. Gabuco 1:06:46, 30 C. Johnson 1:07:01, 31 C.Brown 1:07:20, 32 A.Williams 1:07:43, 33 S.Gillespie 1:08:11, 34 J.Sunga 1:08:56, 35 F.Requillo 1:09:17, 36 K.Van Haasteren 1:09:33, 37 K.Bowers 1:09:35, 38 K.Pickles 1:10:21, 39 M.Hesketh 1:11:13, 40 E.Lando 1:11:30, 41 K.Hills 1:11:54, 42 P.Green 1:11:59, 43 J.Flores 1:12:00, 44 D.Locke 1:12:01, 45 A.Cuesta 1:12:02, 46 Y.Forero 1:12:40, 47 K.Walsh 1:13:12, 48 N.Ibarra 1:13:39, 1 V.Mathy 1:13:40, 49 F.Alhamoud 1:13:48, 2 Z.Hymns 1:14:02, 50 L.Philips 1:14:05, 51 T.Watts 1:14:13, 52 M.Suckling 1:14:14, 53 M.Webb 1:14:59, 54 R.Bitong 1:15:09, 55 C.Morelos 1:16:14, 56 J.Jaruskova 1:18:02, 57 D.Pottinger 1:18:07, 58 L.Duffy 1:18:08, 59 S.Whitfield 1:18:35, 60 A.Garcia 1:18:40, 61 Q.Rowland 1:20:26, 62 M.Molina 1:20:35, 63 R.Catcreon 1:21:05, 64 R.Pedrosa 1:24:11, 65 J-Martin Saluta 1:28:50, 66 D.Dela 1:38:00, 67 D. Petkovski 1:45:23, 1 M.Hills 40:30, 2 T.Cudey 50:20, DNF O.Yuazon, M.Araujo.

Categories: Open Vincent Engel, Veteran Thierry Mathy, Master G.Morete, Senior Bruno Syfrig, Cat B Veronique Mathy, Junior Marcus Hills.