Muscat: Cycle KOM captain Paul Willcox bagged the Individual Time Trial honours for a fifth consecutive year in Oman Cycling Association (OCA) League Championship on Friday.The veteran British cyclist, a regular face at the OCA events, showed his skills in his favourite event of ITT to claim his fifth season title in the fifth race of the OCA League for 24 km at Wadi Al Abyadh.
Willcox came first in 30 minutes and 57.40 seconds while teammate David Hynes was second in 32:33.51 and Salalah Club’s Abdulrahman al Yaqoobi finished third in 33:02.26. Cycle KOM’s red jersey holder Mohammed al Wahibi retained his overall lead with a ninth place finish (33:53.48) in the race dominated by his team with six of their riders making a top 10 finish.
Oman Club’s Islam Ayad was the under-23 topper of the race after finishing in fourth place (33:09.20). However, Mohammed kept his white jersey for the best overall under-23 rider intact as well with 355 points. Ayad was overall second with 270 points and Salalah Club’s Mundher al Hasani, who finished 10th (34:00.41) in Friday’s race, was third with 245 points.
With the win, Willcox overtook team rider Daniel Baldwin of the UK to top the 40 plus category and take the green jersey with 259 points. Baldwin, who finished eighth in Race 5 (33:52.03), was just three points behind on 256 points while Cycle KOM’s US rider Gregory Pollard made it one-two-three for the team by coming third overall in the category with 103 points. Pollard finished sixth (33:29.85) in ITT.
TREMENDOUS SHOW
Star of the day, Willcox said the win was the result of consistent training but nevertheless relieved of getting it done for a fifth straight time.
“The team is well known for the strength on the time trial bike by dominating the podium in the previous seasons. We also won the Team Time Trial this year,” the UK cyclist told Oman Observer.
“I’ve trained so hard this last year and had big success in the UK time trial scene last summer so I was confident of winning today, a fifth in five years. That said, it doesn’t make the effort any easier and it was a relief to cross the line with a time I knew would win.”
The captain said he was excited for the team as Cycle KOM wrapped up all the three jerseys after five races in the seven-race OCA League.
“It was also a great team showing today with David Hynes second again, and all six of us in the top 10! Mohammed ensured he kept the red jersey, which is the overall goal for the team this season,” Willcox signed off. The sixth and penultimate race of the OCA League will be a 96 km road race at Wakan on February 2.
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