The Echelons, Mountains and Sprints of the Tour of Sharjah
Mauritius' Chris Rougier-Lagane tells Global Peloton about his week as UAE race kicks off the early season series of events in the Middle East.
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And suddenly, there is a bike race on almost every day. The season is really getting moving now.
This week, the Tour of Sharjah kicked off the early season string of Middle East events. I really enjoy this race, it always has excellent coverage for a UCI .2 race and this year it had its best ever start-list.
Two ProTeams, Team Corratec-Vini Fantini and Burgos-BH, headed to the desert in search of warm weather and an early-season UCI points boost. The weather was warm at least, but neither team will be too happy with their points hauls. 26 for the Spaniards, their top point-scorer being Mongolian debutant Jambaljamts Sainbayar after coming 5th on GC. It was a measly 13 points for the Italians - not great. We’ve often seen ProTeams attracted to smaller African or Asian UCI races like Sharjah for a points grab in recent years, it often works out like this.
The race was won by UAE Team Emirates Gen Z’s Slovenian prodigy Gal Glivar. Glivar won the 10k time trial on stage three and held on up the mountain-top-finish on the following stage.
The Korfakkan queen stage was conquered by Mario Aparicio (Burgos-BH), who reeled in Ukrainian Antoli Budiak (Terengganu Cycling Team) late on.
Aparicio was no threat on GC though, having lost time in chaotic echelons on the second stage - a stage won by Pierre Barbier (Philippe Wagner-Bazin).
Barbier also won the fifth and final stage. Jesse Ewart (Terengganu Cycling Team) was the other stage winner, having taken the opener from the breakaway. Ewart, alongside Eric Manziabayo (Rwanda) and Anass Ait El Abdia (Abu Dhabi Cycling Club), held off the charging peloton by just five seconds. Ait El Abdia confirmed to Global Peloton after the stage that he and Manizabayo had agreed not to sprint against Ewart after the Irishman did the bulk of the work to help them stay away.
Christopher Rougier-Lagane’s eventful Tour of Sharjah
Mauritius took another step forward in their national cycling development at the Tour of Sharjah. It was the first time for all of their riders to take part in a UCI stage race outside of Africa.
Chris Rougier-Lagane was one of those, although he is perhaps the most experienced of the six, having taken part in one World Championships and placed on the overall podium of the Tropicale Amissa Bongo and Tour de Maurice last season.
The Mauritian told Global Peloton about his whirlwind week.
“The Tour of Sharjah has been a great experience. The organisation was very professional and it was nice to race at this level with some teams we didn’t know before considering it’s our first UCI stage race outside Africa,” Rougier-Lagane said.
“It was a hard race especially on the second stage where I got caught behind in the echelons due to crosswinds. My hopes to do a good GC ended on that day.”
Rougier-Lagane was not the only rider who suffered through the wind, just 26 riders made the front group on the second stage. The Mauritian was in the fourth group on the road, more than nine minutes down.
“The most challenging part was to stay in a good position in the bunch on the second stage with the echelons. The peloton exploded on that day. Riders were everywhere on the road.”
“I came to the race with the hope to do a better GC ranking for sure so in that sense I’m a bit disappointed, but it was good to get the race rhythm in the legs and it will be beneficial for the next races.”
With his initial plans scuppered by the winds typical of this part of the planet, the 25-year-old remained hopeful of getting something out of the race and headed off the front on stage four.
”After I lost some time on the 2nd stage I was motivated to have a go in the breakaway to show the Mauritian jersey in front of the race. I did 110km in the break, on long straight roads, it was long but I really enjoyed to be in the front. The bunch didn’t give us enough time gap to have any hope and when we got caught at the bottom of the climb, the tank was empty, I just climbed easy to the finish.”
His effort in the break was celebrated on the Indian Ocean island nation. “I was followed all day by the Mauritian fans at home and they were so happy to see me in front,” Rougier-Lagane said.
Like almost all the riders at the Tour of Sharjah, the five days of racing were Rougier-Lagane’s opening salvo for the season. 2024 is set to be a huge year, with an appearance at the world’s biggest sporting event on the schedule. The next couple of months will also feature some big races in Africa.
”I’m now flying back home before going to the Tour of Rwanda, then African Games in March. My main goal this year will be to be at my best at the Olympic Games in Paris.”
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Race Round-up
Binyan Ma became only the second Chinese rider ever to win a UCI race in Europe at the GP Antalya Airport City
There was a first top-10 in a World Tour race for Mauritius’ Kim le Court at the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race
The Eritreans have kicked off their seasons in fine form; Biniam Girmay won the Surf Coast Classic, Natnael Tesfatsion was second at the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race and Henok Mulubrhan was second on the second stage of the AlUla Tour
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