Willcox back in the red

MUSCAT, JAN 23 - North Road Oman rider Paul Willcox returned to the Omantel red jersey with a close second-place finish in the 87 km sixth stage of the Oman Cycling Association (OCA) Championship in the coastal city of Qurayat on Friday.

Willcox, who had slipped to the second to Arsene Endurance rider Abdullah al Ghailani after the fifth stage in Nizwa, clawed his way back in style with a second-best time of 2 hours 6 minutes and 45.13 seconds. By matter of seconds, the United Kingdom cyclist missed the first spot to under-23 rider and team-mate Bradley Perkins (2:06:42.73).

With two more stages to go, Willcox is leading the general classifications with 372 points.

Ahli Sidab ‘A’s Mundher al Hasani claimed the third spot (2:06:56.72) and closed in on Willcox for red jersey with 370 points.

Ahli Sidab ‘A’s under-23 rider Mohammed al Wahaibi (2:07:19.71), who finished fifth on Friday, is third overall with 318 points. Mundher and Al Wahaibi are the joint leaders in the Bank Nizwa white jersey standings for the under-23 section with 265 points each. Arsene Endurance’s Waleed al Fahdi is third with 250 points.

In Qurayat, Royal Army’s Hatim al Booshari finished up fourth on 2:07:14.14.

Willcox also topped the 40 plus category for Sohar International green jersey.

Stage winner Perkins also topped the under-23 section.

Among the teams, Royal Army is leading with 235 points, followed by North Road Oman (200) and Ahli Sidab ‘A’ (191).

Stage 7, the penultimate race in the OCA Championship, will take place in Wakan, Wadi Mistal on February 5. The road race will be run for 96 km.

HILLTOP FINISH

The 87 km circuit was mainly out and back along the new Muscat-Qurayat-Sur Expressway.

With the start and finish on the old road, it was set up for a hilltop finish with a 3 km, 200 metres switchback climb at an average of 8 per cent gradient. The same finish also features in one of the Tour of Oman stages.

“With the finish suited for the best climbers, a clear tactic was to keep fresh for the final ascent. With no neutralised start and a tricky fast descent to negotiate after the first 5 km, the race started frantically... and soon a large group of the strongest riders was away’’, the North Road Oman captain explained.

“The pace never let up from there, a small break away was attempted by a group or riders but as we crested the highway climb they were reeled back in. The main group then arrived at the bottom of the climb. I led the charge up the hill with my closest rival and GC leader hot on my wheel, closely followed by Bradley.”

“The three of us separated and with 300m Brad came past to surge in for the overall win... I held off a late attack from Mundher coming in second. The placing gave me back the GC lead (red jersey) and taking first in the Masters category’’, the 44-year-old said.

Like in the Duqm cycling and OCA Stage 5, North Road Oman continued their dominance.

Daniel Baldwin, Greg Pollard, Simeon Gelacio all saw the team take 6 out of 9 podium spots with a full 40 Masters with Simeon and Algene, and Brad topping the U-23 section with his outright win.