Tabriz Petrochemical Cycling Team

04.01.2010

Mehdi Sohrabi (Iran) sealed 2009 by taking the lead in the UCI Asia Tour individual rankings thanks to his victory in the final race of the year, the Tour of Indonesia.

It was Sohrabi's second overall win of the year after the Milad du Nour Tour in October.  He overtakes Tour of Hainan winner Francisco Ventoso (Spain) in the overall rankings.

Five Iranians feature in the top 10 spots in the UCI Asian Tour individual rankings: Sohrabi (1,) Ahad Kazemi Sarai (5), Ghader Mizbani (6), Abbas Saedi Tanha (7) and Hossein Askari (8).

Defending UCI Asia Tour team champions, Tabriz Petrochemical, dominated the Tour of Indonesia (November 22 to December 2).

The team's victory in the opening team time trial meant Sohrabi took charge of the yellow jersey from the start. He cemented the victory by winning the decisive mountain stage from Yogyakarta to Madiun on the sixth day. He also finished second in four other stages.

The action will continue with two back-to-back one-day races, the Vice President Cup (January 22nd) and Emirates Cup (January 23rd).

Encouragingly, a number of new races are dotted throughout the continent in 2010.
The first of these is the six-stage Tour of Oman from February 14 to 19, followed by the Mumbai Cyclothon in India's biggest city on February 21.

India hosts its first international Tour of India over three stages from March 27 to 29 and the Tour of the Philippines will take place from April 17 to 20.