Overall winner Azzedine Lagab (centre) of Algeria National Team, stage three winner Yousef Mohammed Mirza (left) and blue jersey owner Per David of Adria Mobil pose on the podium after the 2014 Tour of Al Zubarah yesterday. PICTURES: Jayaram
By Yash Mudgal/Doha
Defending champion Yousef Mohammed Mirza clinched the second stage victory in as many days to finish the second edition of Tour of Zubarah with point leader’s white jersey. However, it was Algerian National team rider Azzedine Lagab, who emerged as the overall leader, yesterday at Al Zubarah.
Team Giant rider Mirza clocked 2:44.46 to outsprint Adria Mobil’s Primoz Roglic and Uzbekistan National team’s Vadim Shaekhov for the 122.6km stage victory. Mirza was superb in his back-to-back wins. But his campaign was marred by a poor show in the Stage One due to a bad fall during the time trial on the opening day.
“It was a great race again. I was eager to defend the title, but I am happy to finish the tour on a winning note as I have still not fully recovered from a fall on the day one,” said Mirza, who finished 10th in the general classification after clinching back-to-back stage victories.
With this performance during the tour, Mirza earned 28 points for the Olympics qualification. “It was my first tour with the new team Giant and I have managed to earn some important points for Olympic qualification with two stage victories and one third-place finish,” the 28-year-old UAE rider, who earned 40 points for his exploits in the recently concluded Tour of Sharjah, said.
On an another windy day, Lagab, who won the Stage One, managed to finish 14 seconds ahead of Adria Mobil’s Krijstjan Fajt to emerge as the overall leader.
“I am very pleased with my team’s performance here. I was competing for the first time in the race and was honestly not expecting to win it,” said Lagab, who has been nominated for the best African Rider Award.
“I knew I will be racing here amidst the crosswind. It was a very good preparation for my Algerian team, as we are preparing for the African championship which will be held in February,” he said.
Mohamed Bader al-Hamadi of UAE won the 37.1km intermittent sprint at Al Dorsai ahead of Qatar’s Abdullah Afif, who finished 28th in general classification, and Uzbekistan’s Denis Shaymanov. The second 62.6km intermittent sprint at Al-Jumayliyah was also won by al-Hamadi.
David Per of Adria Mobil retained the Blue Jersey of best young riders and helped his team win the team title. Austria National team came second, while Algeria National team finished third.
“I am very happy with my show and it was very good tour for our team as we finished at the top. We will return to Slovenia tomorrow and continued our preparations with new vigour for the new season,” Per said.
Fajt, who finished overall second, said: “With a little bit of luck I could have won the title. In the prologue, I had problems with the bike and lost some seconds but overall I am happy that my team won the team title.”
