I’m back from the United Arab Emirates after participating in 2 races: 15 km time trial and 50 km road race.

After warming up on the morning of March 13^th I was escorted with my fellow athletes by the local police to the race area.

At the time trial, I took off a minute ahead of last year’s world champion, the Swiss Jean Mark, so i knew that I should work hard to prevent him overtaking me. I kept constant high speed and succeeded to finish the race with an average speed of 38,7 km/hr.

However after checking the distance between Jean Mark and myself, it was clear that my position was 2^nd behind him while the Austrian Manfred Putz ranked 3^rd.

After a light lunch, I took a break and gathered my energy for the afternoon race which I was looking forward to.

At the start I tried to lead away from the group but I didn’t succeed, as there were few competitive guys around. After the 6^th lap, I knew it will be a sprint race! From years of experience I believe I am well able to know how to sprint at the right time and place. Hence, as I saw the finish line, I took the lead and made my sprint with more than 50 km/hr winning the race at 1st position!
Behind me was last year’s world champion, Jean Mark 2^nd and and the Austrian Manfred Putz 3^rd.

It was a nice feeling to start my season on the podium and to be back in shape after spending more than 4 months laying in bed last year suffering from my injury.

Now i am looking forward to my next race which will be in Rosenau, France on the 3rd of April… Stay tuned!