Thierry Mathy wins Riyadh Wheelers season opener

The first race of the Riyadh Wheelers season kicked off with registration formalities followed by a short but testing 14km hilly time trial, which took in a pleasant mixture of date groves and some of the lesser Dirab hills. Around 60 riders signed on, and judging by some of the machinery on show many were not treating this as a social event as they proudly displayed their considerable summer purchases. Times were a little slower than last year, but that did not deter from another impressive display from club champion Thierry Mathy, who was in a class of his own as he dipped below 20 minutes. After the race he revealed that due to his duties as registration coordinator, he didn’t have time to prepare his bike and rode the event on soft tires, making his time even more impressive.
With familiar stars filling the next 7 places, including those who had kept fit riding triathlons, it was good to see new names appearing in the top flight for the first time, Brett Girvan, Darren Bennellick and Stuart Elliot and who could have been joined by Stu Gillespie had not his chain derailed.
Cat B Champion Veronique Mathy was given a scare as Jana Jaruskova pushed her close after benefitting from a successful Ironman Triathlon. Mathy admitted to having a busy summer which left little time for training.
In the absence of junior champion Thomas Cudey, it was left to talented all rounders Alun Thomas and Cameron Ball to make an early challenge for Cudey’s title.
With many top riders missing from the opener, this season looks to be another great contest between talented athletes who in the desert of Riyadh manage to compete to a standard which would be the envy of many cycling clubs. Carrefour LeMall provided generous refreshments for the members to round off a great day.
Results:

1 T.Mathy 19:53, 2 V.Engel 21:02, 3 J.Villalobos 21:15, 4 M.Ball 21:18, 5 K.Ahlin 21:36, 6 J.Kuba 21:52, 7 G.Muetze 22:22, 8 J.Roetter 22:37, 9 B.Girven 22:55, 10 R.Patrick 23:17, 11 D.Bennellick 23:26, 12 S.Elliott 23:28, 13 P.McParland 23:30, 14 S.Gillespie 23:34, 15 J.Hymns 23:45, 16 A. Rodriguez 23:58, 17 R.Gocian 24:01, 18 S.Waight 24:04, 19 A.Wilson 24:13, 20 A.Cuesta 24:23, 21 D.Pottinger 24:31, 22 A.Inglis 24:37, 1(J) A.Thomas 24:47, 23 D.Wright 24:49, 24 E.Lando 25:07, 2(J) C.Ball 25:15, 25 J.Hazlewood 25:31, 26 Y.Forero 25:36, 27 K.Opstaele 25:38, 28 P.Foster 25:49, 29 A.White 25:56, 30 K.Moolman 26:00, 31 J.Daley 26:07, 32 C.Carmichael 26:17, 1(L) V.Mathy 26:24, 33 R.Cope 26:25, 34 L.Phillips 26:36, 35 T.Sangorah 26:37, 36 JJ.Torrontegui 26:38, 37 S.Vientel 26:39, 2(L) J.Jaruskova 26:46, 38 M.Webb 27:14, 39 A.San Juan 27:15, 40 L.Davis 27:36, 3(L) F.Gocian 27:44, 41 J.Cortes 27:59, 42 M.Suckling 28:17, 43 S.Whitfield 28:27, 44 F.Requillo 28:45, 45 C.Watters 28:59, 4(L) M.Araujo 29:18, 46 L. Duffy 29:24, 47 O.Almarri 29:49, 3(J) G.Cope 30:06, 48 T.Mahfouz 30:36, 49 S.Baker 31:04, 50 T.Watts 51:06, 51 M.Alturaif 31:24, 52 B.Ella 32:27, 53 R.Beylouni 32:31, 54 A. El Ahmad 32:38, 55 D.Thomas 33:47, 4(J) M.Bahaa 34:32, 56 A.Bahaa 43:09, 57 R.Minarro 45:02, 58 D.Joubert 55:12, 5(J) W.Joubert 55:42.

Categories: Open Vincent Engel, Veteran Thierry Mathy, Master Rob Patrick, Senioer Jiri Kuba, Cat B Veronique Mathy, Junior Alun Thomas