Winner Azzedine Lagab (second left) of  Algeria National Team, runner-up Kristjan Fajt (right) and third-placed Abderramane Mansouri (left) after stage one of the 2014 Tour of Al Zubarah at Dukhan yesterday. Lagab clocked 2:45.19 seconds to grab the yellow jersey from Roman van Uden of Qatar’s Carbon Wheels Cycling Club. PICTURES: Anas al-Samaraee


By Yash Mudgal/Doha

Algerian National Team dominated day two of the second edition of the 2014 Tour of Al Zubarah as their leader Azzedine Lagab won the 120.1km stage one yesterday.
The 28-year-old Algerian national champion clocked 2:45.19 seconds to grab the yellow jersey from Roman van Uden of Qatar’s Carbon Wheels Cycling Club, the winner of the prologue on opening day of the tour on Wednesday. Uden finished joint fourth in a bunch of seven riders yesterday at Dukhan. The 19-year-old Abderrahmane Mansouri of Algeria came third, while his compatriot and teammate Abdennour Yahmi finished fourth. Per David of Adria Mobil, who won the blue jersey for the best young rider at individual time trial, retained the jersey.
Now Uden is overall 30 seconds behind the leader Lagab and will sport white jersey during the 116.8km stage two (Al Shamal Sports Club to Madinat al Shamal) today.
Lagab, who finished at 25th position on the Tour prologue – individual time trial — was outstanding at the finish line sprint to beat Kristjan Fajt of Adria Mobile, who was leading the race till the last 25m.
Lagab, the winner of the International Cycling Tour of Algiers, is in good form this year as he has won two stages at the Tour of Rwanda and has been nominated for the 2014 Best African Cyclist Award for his exploits. The 32-year-old rider Fajt of Solvenia was in full control for the most part of the race on a windy day, but he failed to finish ahead of Lagab. “I was controlling the race almost throughout the day, but I am a bit disappointed to finish a few millimetres behind the leader. However, I am happy with my team’s performance on a windy day and hope to keep up the good work tomorrow and day after,” Fajt said.
Adria coach Mrvar Bostjan also sounded satisfied after the race, as he said: “I am satisfied with results. It is always very important that the riders perform as a unit and enjoy the outing. And when the results are good is even better. I hope we will have better results in the coming days.”
It was a bad day for the defending champion Mohamed Yousif Mirza of team Giant-GMS as he finished 11th yesterday and now is more than two minutes behind the leader. Qatar’s National team rider Afif Abdullah is at the 32 place in the general classification, while in the team classification Adria Mobil is at the top and Algeria National team is at the second spot after the stage one. Qatar team is at eighth place.


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