Qassim Staged Asia’s Road Race as Kazakhstan Took Gold

Kazakhstan’s Yevgeniy Fedorov won the elite men’s road race and time trial at the 2026 Asian Road Cycling Championships in Qassim. Saudi Arabia hosted the continental meet for the first time, with racing from February 5 to 13 around Unaizah and Buraidah.

Host riders found their medals in para-cycling and masters events, not on the elite men’s podium. The Asian Cycling Confederation later praised the organization after around 700 athletes from 30 countries had raced.

Fedorov Won Both Elite Men’s Crowns

Fedorov, 26, rides for XDS Astana and arrived in Qassim as the man to beat against the clock. On February 6 he won the elite men’s time trial in 36:11 over 31 km, with teammate Nicolas Vinokurov 44 seconds back and Chih Hao Tu of Chinese Taipei at 1:19.

Five days later he won the championship that people actually remember. The elite men’s road race covered 154.4 km from Buraidah to Unaizah on February 11, and he finished in 3:25:17. China’s Haoyu Su was three seconds behind in 3:25:20. Abdullah Jassim of the United Arab Emirates took bronze at 1:04 in 3:26:21.

XDS Astana posted the result the same day, with Su second and Vinokurov fourth.

🇸🇦 WIN: Asian Road Championships

Big news also from Saudi Arabia where Yevgeniy Fedorov won the gold medal 🥇 in the Elite road race, while Haoyu Su finished second 🥈! Also, @NicoVino13 was 4th!

What a day! #XDSAstanaTeam #AsianRoadChampionships

— XDS Astana Team (@XDSAstanaTeam) February 11, 2026

Saudi riders started that race and finished well down. Ali Al Shaikhahmed was 40th, Jehad Alfairouz 51st, and Abdullah Alhidan 69th, 24:59 behind the winner. Alfairouz had been 18th in the elite time trial in 42:13, the best Saudi result on that sheet.

ELITE MEN’S TITLES IN QASSIM

The time trial average for the winner was 51.394 km/h on a course listed from Unaizah to Unaizah. The road race was a different test, a long drag from Buraidah that still ended in a three-second gap rather than a bunch sprint.

Eight Host Medals, Mostly in Para Classes

Para-cycling ran after the elite programme, with time trials on February 12 and road races on February 13. Organizers listed 76 para-cyclists in the field. On the closing road day, Saudi riders took 8 medals across T, C and H classes: two gold, four silver, two bronze.

Mohammed Al-Marri won MC1 in 1:38:09, and Abbas Al-Hashem was silver, 2.84 seconds later. Manahi bin Labdah won MH1 in 01:08:35. Fahd Al-Dosari (MT1) and Fawaz Al-Fawaz (MT2) took silver in 00:46:09 and 00:44:49, 1.4 seconds and 5.49 seconds from first. Raneem Al-Fraidi won WT1 silver in 00:42:39. Bassam Al-Majrashi (MC4) and Sara Al-Jumah (WT2) took bronze in 1:59:57 and 00:38:08.

SAUDI PARA ROAD MEDALS, FEBRUARY 13

Those eight results are the host’s cleanest haul, and they arrived after Fedorov, Su and Jassim had already left the elite road. Thailand also won the 2.6 km mixed para team race in 00:50:31 during the week, a reminder that the para programme was a full championship, not a side show.

How Qassim Put a Continental Race on Its Roads

Qassim Region Governor Prince Faisal bin Mishaal bin Saud bin Abdulaziz opened the meet in Buraidah on February 4. Racing itself ran nine days, February 5 to 13, on two main lines: Al-Rawdah Avenue and Al Ghadha Park. The elite men’s start was listed from Al-Oqilat Museum Road, then into laps that finished in Unaizah.

The Saudi Cycling Federation organized the meet under Asian Cycling Confederation sanction and UCI rules. Accredited hotels sat about 30 to 50 minutes from the courses. Dr. Sulaiman Al Habib Hospital in Qassim signed on as sponsor and ran medical checks for athletes during the week.

Asian Road and Para Road Championships Kick Off in Qassim for the First Time in Saudi Arabia.https://t.co/AtZsowIeIO#SPAGOV pic.twitter.com/75AlejDHAF

— SPAENG (@Spa_Eng) February 6, 2026

THE MEET IN FIGURES

• The field: The confederation later put the turnout at around 700 athletes from 30 Asian countries.
• The races: Organizers staged 34 races and awarded 102 medals, three per race.
• The distance: Riders covered more than 1,500 km across the nine days.
• Para entries: 76 para-cyclists started in the 14th Asian Para-cycling Road Championships.

Those numbers sit above a normal elite-only continental weekend because Qassim also ran juniors, under-23s, masters and para on the same roads. The 45th Asian Road Cycling Championships programme had already locked the window as February 5 to 13, with license control on February 4.

NINE DAYS ON THE QASSIM ROADS

1. February 4, 2026: The governor opens the championships in Buraidah; teams complete license control and the managers’ meeting.
2. February 5-6, 2026: Time trials begin. Rinata Sultanova wins the elite women’s test in 26:04; Fedorov wins the elite men’s test in 36:11.
3. February 7, 2026: Hong Kong wins the elite mixed relay in 37:58, with Kazakhstan at 11 seconds and China at 17. Masters time trials share the day.
4. February 8, 2026: Hao Zhang wins the elite women’s road race in 2:45:12. Al Ghadha Park also runs open and masters road races.
5. February 9-10, 2026: Muhammad Syelhan Nurahmat wins the under-23 men’s road race in 2:47:03. Junior and under-23 women’s road races fill the rest of the card.
6. February 11, 2026: Fedorov wins the elite men’s road race. Para teams hold their technical meeting that afternoon.
7. February 12-13, 2026: Para time trials, then para road races. Saudi riders take eight medals on the closing road day.

After the Host City Agreement signed in Riyadh in November 2025, this was the test of whether Qassim could actually run the traffic, the convoy and the commissaires. The confederation’s later note said technical operations, race safety, logistics, hospitality and media coordination had been executed with professionalism.

Masters Riders Gave the Host Its First Podiums

Before para-cycling took over, the host already had names on a podium. On the masters time-trial day, Faisal Al-Shaya and Ahmad Al-Omrani won silver and bronze in the Masters category over 20 km. Al-Shaya recorded 27:19. Al-Omrani recorded 28:17. Abdul Aziz bin Ali Al-Shahrani, president of the Saudi Cycling Federation, presented the medals with Mohammed Bouali of the Saudi Masters Sports Committee.

A men’s individual road race at Al Ghadha Park then put Al-Omrani on the top step in 2:57:36, with Badr Al-Muhanna third in 3:04:05. That programme sat on the same park card as the elite women’s race and the masters road races, two days before Fedorov’s elite championship. It is a host gold. It is not the elite men’s Asian title.

Al-Shahrani had said at the November signing that the Qassim hosting was a proud moment and that the kingdom wanted to be a destination for international cycling. The masters podiums are the first evidence that local riders could use home roads to score, even if the elite men’s race stayed out of reach.

China, Hong Kong and the Rest of the Golds

Kazakhstan still built the loudest elite and junior road tally, with 8 gold medals, 6 silver and 1 bronze on Cyclingflash’s count of that programme. China sat next at 2 gold, 2 silver and 5 bronze. Uzbekistan, Hong Kong and Japan followed. Indonesia’s under-23 road title sat outside that top five, which is why a “complete” table is the wrong way to read a meet that also ran masters and para.

OTHER ROAD GOLD MEDALS IN THE QASSIM WEEK

• Elite women, time trial: Rinata Sultanova (Kazakhstan) 26:04, with Wing Yee Leung of Hong Kong at 9 seconds and Hao Zhang of China at 29.
• Elite women, road race: Hao Zhang 2:45:12; Nafosat Kozieva and Jieun Shin in the same time for silver and bronze.
• Elite mixed relay: Hong Kong 37:58 over 31.6 km, ahead of Kazakhstan and China.
• Under-23 men, road race: Muhammad Syelhan Nurahmat (Indonesia) 2:47:03, 13 seconds ahead of Mansur Beisembay, after placing 11th in the time trial.
• Junior men, road race: Murat Kuitenov (Kazakhstan) 2:33:34, with Almir Valiyev at 1 second and Yuki Inoue at 2 seconds.

Syelhan wrote after the under-23 road race that a dream he had chased for a long time had come true, and that the time-trial result had left him doubting himself. Anel Tashbay of Kazakhstan won junior women’s races against the clock and on the road, part of the same junior group that also took the junior mixed relay.

The shape of the week was familiar to anyone who follows Asian road racing. Kazakhstan brought WorldTour legs. China and Hong Kong took the women’s and relay prizes that were open. Indonesia’s under-23 win was the surprise on the Buraidah start that the junior and under-23 men used from King Khalid Cultural Center.

The Confederation’s Verdict on Qassim

Dato’ Amarjit Singh Gill, president of the Asian Cycling Confederation, had sold the hosting as a test of nerve as much as of tarmac.

The Asian Road Cycling Championships is Asia’s premier road cycling event, and we are delighted to see the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia through Qassim City stepping forward to host it with full commitment and vision.

Dato’ Amarjit Singh Gill, President, Asian Cycling Confederation

On February 24 the confederation came back with the post-race note. It praised the Saudi Cycling Federation for a meet that drew around 700 athletes from 30 countries and said the work had met international standards. Al-Shahrani’s November line still stands as the host’s brief.

Hosting the 2026 Asian Road Cycling Championships in Qassim is a proud moment for Saudi Arabia.

Abdul Aziz bin Ali Al-Shahrani, President, Saudi Cycling Federation

The brief was to put Qassim on the continental calendar and to get Asian champions across its roads without a mess. That part held. The other half of the pitch, a new generation of Saudi elite road winners, is still a development file. Fedorov left with both men’s rainbows that matter at this level. The host left with masters medals, a park-circuit gold, and eight para medals on the last afternoon.

Frequently Asked Questions

What Edition of the Asian Championships Did Qassim Host?

Qassim staged three titles on one permit: the 45th Asian Road Cycling Championships, the 32nd Asian Junior Road Cycling Championships, and the 14th Asian Para-cycling Road Championships, all entered on the UCI calendar as a continental championships (UCI CC) event.

When and Where Is the Next Asian Road Cycling Championships?

The 46th edition is due in Ordos, in Ejin Horo Banner, Inner Mongolia, in May or June 2027, the first time China has hosted the championships since they began in the 1960s, after an ACC vote in Kuala Lumpur on April 19, 2025.

Did Teams Pay a Fee to Race in Qassim?

The organizing committee charged participating delegations no hosting fee for the races themselves, only hotel bills, and it covered airport reception plus daily buses between accredited hotels and the courses.

Which Airports Served the 2026 Championships?

Teams were received at Riyadh International Airport and Al-Qassim International Airport, with the same two airports used for departures on schedules filed with the organizers by January 20, 2026.