The Tour of Salalah concluded on Friday with the completion of the fourth stage of the tour. The final race started from Taqah Castle and ended at Saada Sports Complex covering 109 kms.
In the overall ranking, UAE National team emerged first, the Saudi National team second and the Royal Army of Oman in third place.
In the day’s race, Jaber al Mansoori of the UAE National team bagged first place and bagged blue jersey, while Khaled Mayouf of the same team stood second to bag green jersey. Bilal al Saadi of Qatar National team got the white jersey. The winner of the silver jersey was Mohamed al Wahaibi of the Elite team.
Chief Guest Basil bin Ahmed al Rawas, Under-Secretary of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Youth for Sports and Youth, gave prizes to the winners and participating cyclists.
He expressed happiness over the successful management of the event. He assured all possible help in engaging the youth in national and international sporting events. “Such events give them better exposure and offer new grounds of learning,” he said.
In his comments to the Observer, Said al Rashdi, President of Oman Cycling Association (OCA), said, “I am happy to witness the successful conclusion of the Tour of Salalah with which the OCA launched the 2021-2022 cycling season.”
“The event saw participation from GCC countries. The teams, their managers and cycling experts who came to participate in the Tour of Salalah, endorsed the destination for future events.”
He thanked the sponsors for supporting the event. Commenting on the possibility of holding Tour of Oman in Salalah, Al Rashdi said, “It is too early to comment because it all depends on expert reports. Cyclists in general liked the destination and there is no denying the facts that the Tour of Salalah has opened doors for more events in the city,” he said.
Mohammed al Mashani, Chief Corporate Affairs Officer, Port of Salalah, called an opportunity for the Port to be a part of the Tour of Salalah as a sponsor.
“Development of youth is one of the core social engagements of the Port of Salalah. It was good to see our youth’s readiness for the international sporting events. In the cycling event I saw three factors — sports, culture and tourism — merging together,” he said.
On behalf of the port, he offered more such engagements with the youth of the country.
Ahmed, the winning UAE team leader, liked his team’s participation in Tour of Salalah and called Salalah a right destination for cycling events.
“Overall, it was a good experience for me except the third stage when the weather became too hot. The tracks are good, they are smooth for cycles,” he said. He appreciated Salalah weather and called it good for cycling. When asked how about the weather becoming hot and cold during the same race, he said, “it is better to be cool than hot all the time,” he quipped.
Oman Observer is now on the WhatsApp channel. Click here
