Sawt Falasteen - Outclassed Tashkent team fades out of women's Tour debut

Tashkent City Women Professional Cycling Team, from the second-tier Continental Tour, has struggled on its debut in the women's Tour de France.

Barely halfway through the race's fourth stage on Wednesday, six of its seven riders had already quit.

"Our budget is perhaps 100 times smaller than any other Continental team," said sporting director Gleb Groysman. "We hesitated to come."

The team is made up exclusively of women from Uzbekistan and was set up to help the country qualify riders for the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.

On Monday's first stage from Rotterdam, Tashkent lost four of its seven riders, unable to keep up with the pace of the peloton even on completely flat terrain. Mohinabonu Elmurodova, Madina Kakhkhorova, Ekaterina Knebeleva and Asal Rizaeva all failed to reach the finish line in The Hague.

On Wednesday, Nafosat Kozieva chose not to start the hilly stage from Valkenburg to Liege. Then Margarita Misyurina retired just before the halfway.

Kuskova survived Thursday's fifth stage, finishing in a large group that crossed the line 4 minutes and 58 seconds behind the winner.

The 22-year-old sits in the middle of the overall classification, in 76th place, 15 minutes 9 seconds behind leader Katarzyna Niewiadoma.

"The girls cried every day," Groysman, a Russian-American, told AFP.

Of the seven riders, four are in the under-23 category.

The team travelled with just two replacement bikes and a few wheels.

"Most of our riders are students and they only earn 200 to 300 euros ($220-$330) a month from cycling," said Groysman.

- 'Not a cycling country' -

The Tashkent team was set up in 2022, at the instigation of the government.

It achieved its Olympic goal with one rider in the men's time-trial and two in the women's road race. One of those women, 44-year-old Olga Zabelinskaya, did not enter the Tour, the other was Kuskova.

Uzbekistan sprinter Djamolidine Abdoujaparov won the points classification in the men's Tour de France three times between 1991 and 1994.

Yet it "is absolutely not a cycling country", said Groysman, who puts the number of female riders at less than 100.

The team qualified under this season's International Cycling Union (UCI) rules, which required race organiser Amaury Sport Organisation (ASO) to invite last year's top two Continental Tour teams.

French squad Cofidis were top, while Tashkent managed second place despite entering just two professional races in Europe.

It was in Asia, where the competition is weaker, that Tashkent accumulated points.

"It was up to them to change the rules," said Groysman.

And the sport's overseers already have as this season marked a transition to the new ProTeams format for cycling's second tier, as of next year.

If it is proving hard for Tashkent riders to finish this year's stages, next year it will be difficult for them even just to start the Tour.

M.AbuKhalil--SF-PST