Abu Dhabi: When he was young, cycling fanatic Yousif Mirza had to beg his parents to ride because his parents thought the UAE roads were too dangerous.
He followed his brother around on his bike. Once he had his first smartphone, he began following every big race in cycling.
Fast forward to this weekend, and the 27-year-old has lived out his cycling dreams by making his debut in the second Abu Dhabi Tour as leader of the Al Nasr Pro Cycling Team-Dubai.
Such nirvana comes after Mirza, who used to work at Dubai International Airport, became the UAE’s first cyclist to take part in the Olympic Games in August.
Understandably, then, life could not be better for Mirza, given the burgeoning growth of cycling in his homeland.
For now he has not one, but two, national Tours to choose from — the Dubai Tour was inaugurated in 2014 and has been held three times — and the Abu Dhabi Tour will become a World Tour race in 2017.
“You can see the organisation is strong, how the hotels and the roads are,” Mirza said during the four-stage Abu Dhabi Tour, which ended on Sunday. “The teams are happy and the people are happy, you can’t say something bad about the organisation.
“It’s not about the country or the Middle East. The Tour of Qatar has been doing it for 14 years. The teams are happy, they are fighting to come to this tour.”
“I hope to improve to ride in the WorldTour or the pro level. It’s possible,” added Mirza, in an interview with VeloNews.com. “It’s possible. I prefer to do something here in the UAE and then after that, move up. If you move up too fast, it’s too hard. You have to build slowly.”
Of his Olympic experience, he said: “It was a big experience to ride at that level, it’s really a high level with many champions.”
He crashed on the cobble section and had to abandon his participation in the road race, luckily with no injuries. His quick rise to the top is similar to his country’s. “We are building up young riders and supporting them with the Dubai Sports Council and the Abu Dhabi Sports Council,” Mirza said. “If it’s not me, maybe it’s the next generation who will make it.”
The rise of cycling in the UAE is matched throughout the Middle East, with Qatar and Oman both holding top-level events.
Bahrain will also have its own elite team next season led by Vincenzo Nibali and Joaquím Rodruguez. It should become the first Middle East team in the World Tour.
“Cycling’s growing massively in the world, there are some places you expect to race, but the fact is that you wouldn’t immediately associate cycling with Abu Dhabi,” said Friday’s stage winner Mark Cavendish.
That has all changed now, however.
