Cycle KOM rider Paul Willcox claimed his first stage honours of the Oman Cycling Association (OCA) League Championship 2022-23 with an impressive Stage 4 win in Barka on Friday.
The British veteran cyclist completed the distance in two hours fifteen minutes and five seconds to take the top spot in the 92km stage at Al Sawadi. Willcox remained third in the overall rankings after the win with 285 points but reduced difference to 20 points against second-placed Mundher al Hasani (265 points) on the second spot.
Oman Royal Army cyclist Said al Rahbi took the second spot (02:15:13) in Stage 4 to maintain his overall lead with 350 points.
Salalah Club’s Mundher finished third (02:15:13).
An elated Willcox said it was a hard-fought victory.
“The team (Cycle KOM) came into this race in high confidence after good result at Wakan, Daniel Baldwin and Bradley Perkins finishing second and third respectively.”
Said al Rahbi won the 101km OCA League third stage while Jones and Perkins also made it to the podium for Cycle KOM.
Perkins came in the fourth position (02:15:13) and Faisal al Maamari (02:15:13) finished fifth in the fourth stage.
“The course for this race was flat and was the same track as with the team time trial. Our tactic was a team breakaway in the second lap when we hit the tight hairpin turn, which is a bottleneck. This only partly worked for us when executed as we took too many riders although we spilt the peloton. There was some cat and mouse after until the chasing group caught again and we ended up as one group. With about 12km to go, I decided to risk all and go for a solo breakaway. Timing my break well I got a gap, and then used my time trial power to maintain the distance to the end, a painful for 15-20 minutes but I hung on for the win,” Willcox told Oman Observer.
CYCLE KOM DOMINATE
Cycle KOM –NRO are leading the team category rankings with 1,000 points followed by Oman Royal Army (885 points) and Salalah Club (840 points).
Oman Club (631) and Capital Team (447) are on the fourth and fifth spots respectively.
Cycle KOM –NRO are dominating the 40 plus overall classification.
Willcox is leading the 40 plus category with 265 points while team-mates Daniel Baldwin is second on 110 points and Gregory Pollard is third on 98 points.
In the Under-23 category, overall leader Said al Rahbi is on top with 110 points followed by Munder al Hasani (100) and Bradley Perkins (90).
Cycle KOM captain Willcox will defend his individual time trial title for the third time in the 24km fifth stage of the OCA League at Wadi al Abyadh on January 13, 2023.
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