Local cycling: Sun shines on first Tour de Jerusalem

Thursday's road race followed the route of brand new Road 9.

By JOSH NASON
bike in jer 298 AJ (photo credit: Ariel Jerozolimksi)
bike in jer 298 AJ
(photo credit: Ariel Jerozolimksi)
While rain last Wednesday forced the cancellation of many events surrounding the 40th anniversary of Jerusalem's reunification, the sun came out just in time for Thursday's start to the Tour de Jerusalem. The event, which was being held for the first time ever, featured a road race on Thursday and a mountain bike race on Friday. Thursday's road race followed the route of brand new Road 9. One hundred and fifty riders showed up for the race, which was won by Dor Dviri of the Holon CV Cycling Team, with runners-up Shlomi Hemi from Switzpower MTB in second place and Yuri Levinson from Tel Aviv Rider in third. A total of about 500 cyclists competed in Friday's mountain bike race, which featured three different race lengths: 60km, 40km, and 20km. The 60km race featured a tightly contested battle between the second- and third-place finishers from Thursday. On Friday, though, Levinson emerged victorious in 2 hours 59 minutes. Hemi settled for another second-place finish in 3:01. The 40km race was won by Rotem Arman, also from Tel Aviv Riders, in 2:08, and Lior Mirkin of VCI finished first in the 20km race.