MUSCAT, Sept 13
Oman Royal Army’s Said al Rahbi ended the United Arab Emirates riders podium domination in Tour of Salalah 2022 to win the Stage 3 race in Salalah on Tuesday. Said finished the 123-km stage from Mirbat Castle-Tawa Ateer to Wadi Darbat in 3 hours 14 minutes and 28 seconds.
The UAE cyclists had won all the podium spots in the first two stages of Tour of Salalah.
Azzam Abdulmunim of Saudi Arabia claimed the second position and another local rider finished on the podium as Mohammed al Wahibi of Salalah Club came third. All the top three riders finished on same time but Said prevailed on better bonus points (10) compared to Azzam (6) and Mohammed (4) in the longest stage of the Tour.
However, UAE cyclists retained the jerseys for the leading riders in all the sections ahead of the last and fourth stage on Wednesday.
Stage 1 winner Saif al Kaabi of UAE topped the general individual time classification to keep his golden jersey after finishing fifth in stage 3 (03:15:49).
Stage 2 winner Khaled Mayouf kept the green jersey for the points classification after finishing 11th in stage 3.
Jaber al Mansoori retained the silver jersey for KOM classification with a seventh place while Abdullah al Hammadi was the under-23 leader with the white jersey after finishing sixth on Tuesday.
Thailand’s Ponlawat Sakunthanaphum (03:15:49) claimed the fourth spot in the third stage.
In the teams section, UAE national team was leading after third stage with an overall timing of 24:33:58. Oman-based Cycle KOM – NRO was second on 25:24:28 and Thailand national team was third (25:34:19).
Salalah Club was fourth (25:42:40) and Oman Royal Army fifth on 25:48:36.
The four-stage cycling race, which offers a total prize money of RO 7,730, is organised by the Oman Cycling Association and supported by Dhofar Municipality, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Youth and Ministry of Heritage and Tourism.
Stage 4 and the concluding race will run for 116 km from Khor Rori to Municipality Entertainment Centre on Wednesday.
