Tabriz Petrochemical Cycling Team

Iran’s Tabriz Petrochemical Team picked up right where they left off last season when they opened the 2009-2010 UCI Asia Tour season in style. The top team of the 2008-2009 UCI Asia Tour dominated the first two races of the new season: 28-year old Mehdi Sohrabi took overall victory after six stages of the Tour of Milad du Nour and his 35-year old teammate Ahad Kazemi Sarai won the International Azerbaïjan Tour. Both races were on the team's home soil in Iran. Sohrabi's victory in the Tour of Milad du Nour held from October 6 to 10, the new season's first race, was an emphatic one. He was clearly the rider on form at that moment, also claiming the points classification and only losing out by two points to Amir Zargari, a former World Cycling Centre trainee, in the race for the mountains classification. Sohrabi's 1m42 advantage at the end of the last stage of the race in Khomeyn, was largely thanks to two splendid victories on the second and fourth stages. A week later, an equally dominant Kazemi Sarai took charge of the leader's jersey on the second day of the International Azerbaïjan Tour. He lost the lead to Sohrabi on the fourth stage, but took the jersey back the following day and never looked back. Islamic Azad University rider Amir Zargari won the mountains classification, while Sohrabi was surprised by 22-year old compatriot Behnam Khalilikhosroshahi in the race for the points classification. The continent's biggest one-day race, the Japan Cup on October 25, featured some of the top UCI ProTeams. Saxo Bank's Danish rider Chris Sorensen rode solo to victory after dropping a breakaway pack of four other riders who battled it out for the minor placings. Caisse d'Epargne's Daniel Moreno outsprinted Liquigas rider Ivan Santaromita and Fuji-Servetto's Juan Jose Cobo for second spot. November will be a busier month, with five races on the UCI Asia Tour calendar. First up is the two-day Tour de Okinawa (JPN) on November 7 and 8. On the last day of this race, the inaugural Tour de Seoul one-day event takes place in the South Korean capital city. The much awaited newly upgraded Tour de Hainan runs on the picturesque South China Sea Island from November 11 to 19. This is the latest Asian race to earn hors class status after Le Tour de Langkawi and Tour of Qinghai Lake. Another one-day event takes place in Japan, the inaugural Kumamoto International Road Race on November 15. The month will end with the Tour of Indonesia, from November 22 to December 4.