Samah Mohammed Khalid of Bahrain and Adel Abdulbaqi Al Beloushi clinched top honours in the women’s and UAE Nationals’ categories at the 75km road cycling held as part of the 5th Nad Al Sheba (NAS) Ramadan Sports Tournament held on Saturday.
Representing Team Bahrain Merida, Samah came up with a faster sprint to finish with a time of 1 hour and 56.33 minutes and ahead by a second from the chasing duo of BeSport Team’s Roisin Thomas and Team Wolfi’s Contessas’ Deirdre Casey in the podium spots of the women’s category.
In the category for UAE Nationals, Adel Abdulbaqi Al Beloushi timed his final sprint well to win in a time of 1:44.07 and well ahead of Nshama’s Ahmed Obaid Saif Al Marri (1:44.07) and Ali Mohammed Al Khayat (1:44.08).
The road cycling races were held over 75km with participants required to do five loops of 15km each along the roads of the Meydan and Nad Al Sheba areas.
Held under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Hamdan Bin Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and Chairman of Dubai Sports Council, this year’s NAS Ramadan Sports Tournament consists of nine sporting disciplines vying for a total prize fund of more than AED6 million.
The early stages of the men’s race saw a big group stay together, but as the ride progressed it was a front group of around ten staying together with an eye on a final burst towards the later stages. With less than five kilometres remaining, Adel Abdulbaqi Al Beloushi moved ahead of the pack while his teammates from Dubai Expo 2020 played their role of protecting their lead rider.
Adel Abdulbaqi Al Beloushi took up the outside right of the road and came up with a blistering sprint to win in a time that was at least two minutes quicker than last year.
“I owe this win to my team. It was perfect teamwork for us,” Adel Abdulbaqi Al Beloushi told media later.
“We have been together as a team for the past few months, and now with this as our first major win we want to attend other races around the region and see where we stand in cycling,” he added.
There was action in the women’s race as well with the front being dominated by a handful that included two Bahrainis, pre-race favourite Razan Soboh, her teammate Samah Khalid and a couple of Irish riders – Roisin Thomas and Deirdre Casey.
However, Razan Soboh went out with a puncture leaving the field open to Samah Khalid, Roisin Thomas and Deirdre Casey for the final sprint towards the finish line.
“I am happy to finish in first place as we are in the last stages of our preparations for the World Cycling Championships in Norway later this summer,” Samah Khalid said.
“We have been training hard for the past few months and I am sure we will do well in Norway,” she added.
Ireland’s Roisin Thomas was proud after taking second. “It’s a good start for us as a team,” she said.
“The standard of women’s cycling is quite good here in the UAE and I am sure we can do with a semi-professional all-womens’ team,” she added.
