Pedalling prowess Saturday, 04 February 2012 01:14

by Salim Matramkot & Syed Omar

The Ladies Tour of Qatar at the start of the cycling season is an event which world’s top cyclists have put on their calendar for the last three years. This year too elite women from the cycling world stretched themselves to the limit to gain top honours in Qatar.
Judith Arndt of GreenEDGE-AIS won the Ladies Tour of Qatar, holding off a challenge from Trixi Worrack of Specialized –lululemon to claim the leader’s Golden jersey and win the 2012 edition of the event. 2009 and 2010 winner Kirsten Wild of Netherlands won two of the three-stages to win the Silver jersey for points.
Australian Hosking Chloe of Team Specialized-lululemon won the best young riders jersey. The Ladies Tour of Qatar which ended in Doha on Friday consisted of three stages and covered a distance of 304kms. Teams from Australian, Germany, French, Belgium, China and USA took part in the first event of the year to position them on the world stage in the Olympic year. In all, 90 riders from 15 teams took part in the event.  Qatar has earned its place among countries that really count in the world of cycling, said Sheikh Khalid bin Ali bin Abdullah Al Thani, President of Qatar Cycling Federation.
“The very existence and continued development of this high-level female competition is proof of the Qatari sporting authorities’ commitment to cycling. It is also proof of the truly visionary approach with which the country sets itself major challenges.