Dubai: After Soufiane Haddi’s success with the SkyDive Dubai Team, it was the newly unveiled Al Nasr Pro Cycling Team’s turn to make a mark for the hosts at the ongoing Dubai Tour.
The team formed to give more exposure to the Emirati riders and tasted success with their Moroccan recruit Essaid Abelouache in the third stage on Friday.
Abelouache’s major achievement at the world stage until now was participation in the 2014 UCI Road World Championships, but yesterday he stole the limelight with two intermediate sprint wins.
The 27-year-old, at the 87.1km intermediate sprint at Al Madam, outsmarted Hayden McCormick (ONE), Feng Chun Kai (LAM) and David Riba Lozano (TNN). And then after enjoying a lead of 1 minute 53 seconds over the chasing pack, went on to clinch the second intermediate sprint at Al Malaiha after 109.8 km - after playing a good waiting game.
“It is a good start for a new team. This result will give us motivation to give more support to the team. We had participated in the Dubai Tour not for result but for participation. However, the result shows that we have done some good signings,” said Al Nasr board member Abdul Rahman Abu Shawareb, adding, “We would like to thank Shaikh Hamdan Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Deputy Ruler of Dubai and Minister of Finance for supporting us to build a strong team.
Meanwhile, Haddi also continued to hold on to the best young rider’s white jersey which he has held on to from stage one.
