Oman Royal Army’s under-23 rider Said al Rahbi made a sensational return to podium in the Oman Cycling Association (OCA) League 2022 by claiming the top honours in the second stage race on Friday.
Al Rahbi completed the distance of 98 km in 1 hour 54 minutes and 50 seconds to come first ahead of 2021 champion Mundher al Hasani of Salalah club (01:54:50) and Filipino rider Rex Carino of Capital Club (01:54:50).
Paul Willcox of Cycle KOM – NRO finished fourth (01:54:50) and teammate Gregory Pollard was fifth on same time.
All the top five finishers completed the race in the same time and the positions were decided on basis of the points earned by the riders after a closely fought contest.
In the overall general standings after first two races, Said topped with 120 points with Mundher on second taking 110 points and Rex on third spot collecting 100 points from the podium finish.
Willcox (90 points) and Pollard (80 points) completed the top five.
In the Under-23 classification, Said and Mundher claimed the top two positions, while Mohammed al Wahaibi of Salalah Club (01:55:57) was third.
In the 40 plus classification, Willcox and Pollard took the top two slots while Mohammed al Kindi of Bahla Club (01:55:57) was third.
In the overall team classification, Cycle KOM – NRO kept their lead with 475 points after first two races. Cycle KOM won the first stage, a 47 km team time trial in Al Sawadi.
Oman Royal Army, on back of their brilliant under-23 cyclists, are second with 460 points.
Salalah Club (415) were third, while Capital Team took fourth position with 389 points and Oman Club were fifth with 309 points.
Izki Club (215), Bahla Club (210), Al Musannah Club (208), Gulf Cycles (163) and Wave Riders (143 points) were on five to tenth positions respectively out of 16 teams in the competition.
The chief guest gave away the medals to the top three winners in various categories.
The third stage of the OCA League, a road race scheduled at Wadi Muharram on November 11 is likely to change its venue, according to the OCA sources.
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