Safiya Alsayegh won for the 3rd time the UAE ITT National Championships again this morning at Nazwa, Sharjah. Great performance for the 21-year-old Dubai-based athlete, who gave UAE Team ADQ its first victory of the year. Silver medal for Zahra Hussain of our UAE Development Team who took second place.
A result that the Safiya – the first Arab woman in the UCI Women’s WorldTour – also achieved thanks to the great support work carried out by UAE Team ADQ and all the staff.
The team’s mission is to develop talent and create heroines through cycling. Safiya is an inspiration to many women in the Arab world, not only in sport, and the team and the many professionals who are part of the staff are working to enable the Emirati champion to improve step by step with her daily work.
Cristina San Emeterio, Sports Director of UAE Team ADQ and Coach of Safiya Alsayegh explains: “Safiya was ill last week and was not in the best condition for this race, but nevertheless managed to regain her energy today and won her title again. Safiya started to work focus on create the base last year. Therefore, when we began working together, we manage a progression on Europe experience. We need to close the gap between UAE and Europe pace, she needs to increased the intensity workout and spend more time in Europe, with the team, like training camp, on races, to get to know the dynamics in the peloton. For us, the training camp experience was the key point. She was able work with the teammates and complete the workouts successfully. In addition, in that period of time we included specific workouts on climb, as well. In summary she achieve a good shape, she increased her strength, she cross the suffering threshold on bike and she came back home with new experiences to go on practicing. Now, it’s time to keep going with our job”.
Also obviously satisfied was Safiya Alsayegh: “A windy ITT, raced with my legs not at their best, but I am glad they were able to give me enough to win and defend my title for a third consecutive year. I am very pleased with the progress the training is showing me and I am looking forward to next weekend’s Road Race to defend my other title. I thank all the coaches for their hard work with me. I also thank the whole team for the support that I have received while preparing and I promise for better results in the future. As always, my Colnago bike didn’t let me down and pushed me to win another race on it”.
The Road Race of the UAE National Championships will take place on Sunday, 5 March.
