Cycling: National Championship - Ahmad Arissol wins second successive title |03 November 2015

Cyclist of the year in 2014 Ahmad Arissol has confirmed his domination of the local cycling scene after grabbing the national championship title during the weekend to confirm him as the overall classification leader for the second year running.

The national championship comprised three races – a 40km individual time trial, a 6.3km hill climb and an 86km road race.

Racing this final competition in honour of fallen colleague Peter Alphonse, the cyclists were all aiming to make it onto the podium, but none more so than Arissol who told Sports Nation that he wanted to win this race for his former teammate and friend.

The first stage of the championship saw the cyclists take part in a 40km individual time trial which began near the Palais des Sports and took the cyclists all the way to the Roche Tortue monument near the Seychelles International Airport and back to the start line.

Here it was Arissol who posted the fastest time as he set a new record time of 57 minutes, which was better than Dominic Arrisol’s 58 minutes 20 seconds time set last year.

It was the same Dominic Arrisol who finished second in 58 minutes, the same time as Edrick Roucou who was ranked third.

Stage two was a hill climb contest where the riders had to tackle the Sans Soucis road to reach the finish line at l’Exile. It was again Ahmad Arissol who finished victorious, claiming victory after 22 minutes 03 seconds (22:03). He was followed by Fadi Confiance with a time of 22:13 and Jean-Eve Souyave managed to nab third position with a time of 23.05.

“The hill climb was the toughest stage for me,” said Arissol… “but I pushed on because I really wanted to win for Peter.”

The final race took place yesterday morning and the cyclists had to go from Montagne Posée all the way to Victoria and from there they would make their way back to west Mahé via the east coast before going up to Grand Anse Mahé.

It was a very close contest, where Ahmad Arissol eventually took first place with a time of 2 hours 38 minutes 10 seconds (2h38:10), the same time as Edrick Roucou who finished second. Their time was a mere 5 seconds ahead of third placed Fadi Confiance (2h38:15).

The result meant that Ahmad Arissol finished as the overall winner with a total time of 3h57:13, thus also clinching the best time trial rider, best climber and subsequently named cyclist of the year for a second time.

Fadi Confiance finished as the runner-up with a cumulative time of 3h59:28 and he also clinched the best junior title, while Edrick Roucou was third overall with 4h01:13.

Jean-Yves Souyave was awarded the prize for best cadet (eighth overall with 4h07:11), while Stephan Belle was named as the best road racer (sixth overall with 4h06:22).

In memory of the late Peter Alphonse, the prize-giving ceremony was held at Montagne Posée – the site of the tragic accident that took the young cyclist’s life recently.

“I am very happy with my performance as I really wanted to win today for Peter and now the next step for me is to recruit some new talents for our Life Cycle team,” said Arissol.

S. N.