Frederic Gombert of France reigned supreme to complete a hat-trick of wins at the Al Adaid Desert Challenge.
The elite category of the cycling race was recognised by the International Cycling Union (UCI) as a category 3 XCP race and it offers the highest prize money in the world in its class. The total purse across all disciplines – cycling, running and duathlon – totalled QR216,000.
France’s Frederic Gombert made his hat-trick of wins this year. His light-build proving a definite advantage over that of larger, stronger riders on the soft sand. This year’s extended course included more of that than ever as it followed the 40.5km route – which included the tough task of crossing ten sand dunes on the way to the finish line.
Gombert’s time of 1:42:17, was eight minutes slower than last year despite more favourable weather conditions. With Shokri already out of contention, it was Gregor Sikosek (Slovenia) who came closest to challenging the Frenchman, some four and a half minutes adrift. Eight minutes later, Szymon Wasiak (Poland) crossed the line for third place, exhausted by his effort.
Gombert observed, “The race was harder this year, but I have adapted well and the experience I have gained over the past years made the difference today.”
One of the most notable performances of the day was from two-time Olympian, Pia Sundstedt. Although this was her fifth completion and fifth win, it is surely ranked among the best with a result which placed her fourth overall – just 30 seconds off stealing a podium position from the men.
Pia describes herself as a sand specialist, “I just let the bike find its way and I find that balance being able to stay on the bike even when you think you will fall. It’s a special technique that I learned already as a child.” France’s Sophie Giovane holds off Isora Sosa of Spain for the silver medal.
The premier off-road endurance event of Qatar was organised by Qatar Cyclists in cooperation with the Qatar National Tourism Council (QNTC) and the support of the Ministry of Culture and Sports and Qatar Cycling Federation. The challenge topped last year’s record participation with 615 athletes from 51 different nationalities taking part in mountain bike and desert running races across Khor Al Adaid, one of Qatar’s most beautiful natural areas.
Al Adaid also incorporates the Qatar National Mountain Bike Championship. This year the riders occupying all three podium spots had stepped up to the UCI Elite category.
A new generation of riders racing at this level being a positive indication of the development of elite cycling in Qatar. Abdulla al-Khater pulled on the national champion Jersey after two hours and nine minutes of riding.
He defeated the title holder, Marwan al-Jalham, who had found himself losing the lead group after some problems at the start. Fadhel al-Khater took bronze. In all, 168 Qatari nationals completed the challenge this year. An increase on last year and a reflection of the strong and developing interest in cycling and endurance sport. Endurance didn’t come much greater than the effort of Ahmed Shahrani, last placed in 7:05:22.
Ahmed becomes the first wheelchair athlete to complete the challenge.
In his first year of bike racing, 18 year old Axel Dopfer (Germany) decisively led the Open classification with a performance which would have placed him 5th UCI Elite.
Mouchcine Rhaili (Morocco), who has dominated much of the road racing this year, settled for third place on this occasion, 90 seconds further back. Spaniard, Carla Pregigueiro was ladies winner in 2:53:20, beating Sondra Hope and Charlotte Wohlwend (Switzerland).
The North Africans again dominated the desert run. Abderrahim Ghayour taking the win for the second year in a row, impressively adding only a minute to his time over the longer course.
Countryman Houssine Lahdou was third but the Moroccans didn’t have the entire podium to themselves – Mohcine Zaytouni, representing Qatar, occupied the silver spot. Back to Morocco for the Women’s champion though with Zineb Karam beating two brits; Daisy Baker and Sophie Clarke.
New for 2020’s Al Adaid was the additional challenge of an 8km run immediately following the bike in the duathlon category. Elite off-road triathlon specialist Mehdi Mersni put in a bike performance which would have placed him highly in the MTB competition and continued with a blistering run, only to find he had been misdirected. In two of the most impressive displays of sportsmanship of the event, Mersni proceeded to chase back to within 90 seconds of Jan Woutters (Netherlands) who conceded the win in recognition of a performance which he felt deserved first place.
The three leaders of the Women’s duathlon were all in the veteran class: Andrea Stadler (Ecuador), Daniela Sposi (GBR) and Govida Dellomas (Philippines) all beating their younger rivals.
Dr Jamal Rashed al-Khanji, Managing Director of Al Adaid Desert Challenge commented, “The success achieved by Al Adaid Desert Challenge today exceeded all expectations. The event broke all records this year in terms of the number of participants and international cyclists, in addition to the total prize money. The popularity of cycling in Qatar is rapidly increasing, thanks to support of our wise leadership.
“We are planning to expand Al Adaid Desert Challenge next year, to move it to a higher UCI category, maybe by making it a three-day event or perhaps turning the duathlon into a very unique triathlon, which will attract more international athletes,” he added.