Inaugural Tour of Al Zubarah kicks off today

(From left to right) Andrej Filip, the organising director, Mohamed Salem al-Hemoud, QCF member and head of Secretary and Finance, QCF President HE Sheikh Khalid bin Ali al-Thani, QCF Secretary-General Majid Ahmed al-Naimi and Nasser al-Kaabi, QCF member and head of Public Relations attend a press conference yesterday.

By Yash Mudgal/Doha

The four-day event is being organised with an eye on providing homegrown talent with more opportunities to race at high profile events.

Sixteen teams from Europe, Asia and the Middle East are taking part and is a part of the efforts of QCF to promote and appreciate nation’s heritage as it is dedicated to Al Zubarah, which was promoted to UNESCO World Heritage List in June 2013.

President of the QCF Sheikh Khalid bin Ali al-Thani, addressing a press conference on the eve of the event, said, “This is a new event in which national teams from the region and elsewhere will compete over four days. Qatari riders will also be part of the event. We are using it as a platform for our riders to compete against some of the best riders. This event will give them yet another opportunity to scale new heights as riders.”

Taking about Qatar’s preparations for the tour, Qatar team’s coach Branco Filip said Qatari riders had a training session in Italy for a period of three months and took part in various races before the start of the new season. He said Qatar team did well in Tour of Sharjah from November 22 to 25 and also featured in the Arab Cycling Championship in Bahrain last month.

“The tour is a tough one. All the participating teams are strong. Uzbekistan is one of the strongest teams in the tour though they were unlucky in Sharjah. UAE team is also very good and I hope it will be good competition for our boys. They have just returned from the UAE where they featured in the Tour of Sharjah and are eager to participate in the tour,” he added.

The QCF has laid out a demanding route for the inaugural edition of the tour.

Speaking on the occasion, QCF Secretary-General Majid al-Naimi said the four-stage event will open with a three-km prologue in which riders will start at one-minute intervals from the Lekhwiya Sports Club today. Stage two will be of 123.8km from Barzan Towers to Al Zubarah on  Thursday. The third stage is of 127.5km from Simsimah to Madinat al-Shamal on Friday, while the stage four will be of 120.7km from Mesaieed to Mesaieed  on Saturday, the last day of the tour.

Zubarah — also called Al Zubarah or Az Zubarah — is a ruined and deserted town located on the north western coast of the Qatar, about 105kms from Doha.

When asked about the decision to choose Al Zubarah as the Tour’s focal point, Al Naimi said, “We chose Zubarah because it is a World Heritage Site. This race will be an annual event. When teams and riders come and take part in our event, they will take back memories of Al Zubarah with them. Visitors to Qatar will pass on the word and we expect more people to see this place.”

According to the classification of the International Cycling Union (UCI), the competition is the Class 2.2 category, which means that participants can get points for their performance both nationally and individually.

QATAR TEAM

Abdullah Afif

Ahmed Elbourdainy

Moosa Said

Hamad Afif

LEKHWIYA TEAM

Diego Hossfeldt

Khalil Abduljanan

Abdelrahman Jarboua

Mohamed Afif