DOHA: More than 140 riders representing 20 countries will feature in the opening leg of the Tour of Zubarah, organisers said yesterday.
Teams from Austria, Bahrain, Kuwait, Germany, Great Britain, the UAE and Uzbekistan will join a five-member Qatar squad at the prologue set to be held at Aspire Zone,” Nasser Al Kabi, Assistant Secretary General of Qatar Cycling Federation (QCF) said.
“This will be the second edition of Tour of Zubarah and we have attracted more riders than we did last year,” Al Kabi said.
“Qatar will be represented by five cyclists and we are hopeful of a good show,” Al Kabi added.
The riders will complete a total distance of 363.4km over the four stages.
After today’s Prologue, the riders will compete in the first stage tomorrow. The first stage will start at Madinat Al Kaaban and end at Dukhan.
The second stage will start from Al Shamal Sports Club and end at MAdinat Al Shamal on Friday.
The third and the final stage will be held on Saturday, Al Kaabi added.
The riders will have to be tackle the short individual time trial which will be held at Aspire Zone, Al Kaabi said.
A challenging course will be contested in the dark for the first time in Qatar which will provide plenty of thrills for the riders and the fans. The stage from Madinat Al Kaaban to Dukhan has some hills in the last 25km and could be deciding the general classification.
Windy conditions could test the riders who generally get to battle flat surfaces.
The main sponsors of the race are Aspire Zone Foundation (AZF) and Qatar Museums.
The Tour of Zubarah is entered on the UCI Asia Tour calendar. The event is registered as a class 2.2 event.
Last year the race was won by UAE rider Yousef Mohamed Mirza. The Peninsula
