Victorious’ Pascual in top 10 of Tour of Salalah

TDT | Manama    

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Spanish rider Eusebio Pascual, representing Victorious Cycling Team from Bahrain, finished in the top 10 in the first stage of the Tour of Salalah 2023 yesterday in Oman.

Pascual was seventh overall on the general classification of the race’s 123-kilometre opening leg from Khor Rori to Ayn Ishat.

He completed the distance just over a minute behind stage winner Yacine Hamza from Algeria.

German Robin Fischer of Storck-Metropol Cycling was the runner-up, while completing the top three was Slovenia’s Grega Bole of Shabab Al Ahli Cycling Team.

Bahrain have two squads competing in the event, including Victorious and the Bahrain Cycling Academy (BCA) squad.

The other members of Victorious are Bahrainis Ahmed Naser, Abdulla Faqihi, Mohamed Alqais and Talal Almalki, along with Kevin Orlandi from France.

The BCA squad is composed of national cycling team members Sayed Ahmed Alawi, Mansoor Jawad, Ali Hasan Saleh and Husain Mohamed.

Naser was the second-best ranked finisher yesterday from the Bahrain teams in 20th.

Alawi and Mohammed followed in 29th and 31st, respectively, while Orlandi came 40th. Alqais was 49th, Jawad 51st, Saleh 57th, and Faqihi 72nd.

Over 70 riders finished yesterday’s stage. The tour continues today with stage two, covering 148km starting from Sadah and finishing at Hajeef.

This year’s Tour of Salalah features four stages, concluding on Wednesday. It is an elite men’s road race part of the International Cycling Union (UCI) calendar.