December 5, 2006 РSylvain Richard, the road and track assistant at the F̩d̩ration qu̩b̩coise des sports cyclistes (FQSC), is currently in Doha, Qatar, for the 15th Asian Games and sent a report to Veloptimum.

Richard is an expert in timing of bike races, hence the reason for his trip to the Gulf state. The Games, which began November 28 and run through December 15, bring together athletes from 47 Asian countries to compete in 46 sports, including road and track cycling. Eight track events and three road events are featured there for male athletes, and four track events and two road events for women.

According to Richard’s report the cycling events began on December 3 and he writes that the oil-rich country built a 40-km circuit out in the desert for the road race events so as not to disturb activity in town. The long, flat and smooth route has a few reference points to let cyclists know how they’re progressing. An athlete from Hong Kong won the first event in a breakaway with an Iranian and a South Korean rider (no names or times were provided.)

Pedal reached FQSC director general, Louis Barbeau, for his comments on the Games. He said that, “”¦there are no Canadian riders to my knowledge at these Games, and I don’t think that there should be anyway. The only other Canadian there as far as I know (from Sylvain’s report) seems to be Mike Shea as a commissionaire.”

The Games date back to Delhi in 1951 and are generally held every four years. Richard writes that bottled water, at $2 a litre is about 10 times more expensive than gasoline in Qatar!

For more info visit ww.dohaasiangames.org/

For the Veloptimum report click here.