Cycling: National Championships 2016 - Ahmad Arissol gets third win in a row |09 August 2016

Ahmad Arissol is the winner of the National Championship held during the weekend across four stages covering most of Mahé island. In fact, this is his third National Championship win in a row.

Vélo Club de l’Ouest’s Arrisol did not start the championship too well but it was his stage four win with an advantage of nearly 7 minutes on his nearest challenger that helped him to the overall win on Sunday morning.

It was in fact rival Dominic Arrisol of Adams Cycling Club who was victorious in the first two stages. He first won the 6.3km hill climb at Sans Soucis in 20 minutes 40.27 seconds (20:40.27), with Ahmad finishing fourth in 21:32.20. In this race, it was Xerxes Larue who claimed second place with a time of 20:56.98, while Fadi Confiance was third in 21:27.41.

The second race took place on Saturday morning and it was a 13km individual time trial which started at Roche Caïman. Again it was Dominic Arrisol who claimed victory in a time of 17:45.84, faster than Ahmad, who crossed the line in 18:01.33 for second position. The young promising Miguel Mathieu claimed third place with a time 18:17.46.

Ahmad Arissol’s registered his first win in the championship on Saturday afternoon in the 99.4km circuit race.  He completed the 14 laps of the circuit in 2h32:31 to finish ahead a group of nine other cyclists who were all credited with a time of 2h32:39. The nine cyclists were Xerxes Larue, Edward Pothin, Stephan Belle, Christopher Gerry, Chabel Servina, Mario Ernesta, Darius Oredy, Darel Talma and Edrick Roucou. Dominic Arrisol, Miguel Mathieu, Jim Brutus and Raoul Gomme finished third – all with 2h32:39.

The final stage of the championship was the most gruelling race of them all as the cyclists were challenged to a 124km road race. The race began at Providence and from there, the riders went towards Takamaka, Baie Lazare, Les Cannelles, Anse Royale and down the east coast up to Montagne Posée where they headed back west and from Anse Boileau they went to Grand Anse where they made their way back east via La Misère. From Plaisance they headed towards the Bel Eau road up to Bel Air, Sans Soucis and back west towards Port Glaud and Takamaka and then back to Anse Royale to finish the race in front of the Mohan Shopping Centre at Plaisance.

Here it was Ahmad Arissol who was in a league of his own, leaving his rivals far behind to finish the race after 4h19:04. Dominic Arrisol, who made a mistake by taking the wrong route at some point, arrived in second place along with Xerxes Larue and Edward Pothin – all with a time of 4h26:30.

Ahmad Arissol’s big win propelled him to the top of the championship standings and he took the overall victory with a cumulative time total of 7h31:08.

Dominic Arrisol was six minutes behind with 7h37:31, followed by Vélo Club de l’Ouest’s Xerxes Larue in third place with 7h38:34.

As for the promising Miguel Mathieu, son of former Seychelles champion Hedson Mathieu, he finished fourth overall with a time of 7h40:05 to be named the best cadet for the championship.

Vélo Club de l’Ouest’s Stephan Belle was the best junior rider after finishing seventh overall with a time of 7h54:30.

In total, 12 riders completed the tour while another nine failed to.

For the teams, it was Vélo Club de l’Ouest who claimed first place with a total time of 23h04:12, followed by Adams Cycling Club with a total of 23h29:24.

S. N.