The Gulf region’s top cyclist retired 70km into the race after a crash blocked his path and left him lagging with no chance of catching up with the peloton.
“During the circuit in the cobblestone a crash happened in front of him,” explained Vitor Carvalho, who is the manager of Mirza’s team, Nasr-Dubai, and was with the Emirati in Rio.
“He didn’t crash himself, he hit the brakes hard and he stopped in time but because of this situation the road was blocked and by the time he managed to jump on the bike again it was impossible for him to come back again to the peloton so he don’t have another option but to leave the race, along with the others who were involved in the accident.”
Mirza admits the Olympic race posed a unique challenge compared to his previous appearances in professional events.
“The pace of the race was very high,” Mirza told Arabic press. “Despite my participations in the Abu Dhabi Tour and Dubai Tour, I felt the Olympics was at a different level. The average speed during the first hour was at 50km/hr, which is really fast.
“Still, I consider this a valuable experience and the most important thing is that I got out of this uninjured.
A total of 79 riders did not finish the Olympic road race including the likes of Tom Dumoulin, Richie Porte, Wout Poels and Vincenzo Nibali.
“It’s always difficult to be forced to abandon a race when you still have full energy and are with your capacity,” said Carvalho.
“We have been preparing for these Olympic Games since January, putting in a lot of hours in training, rest, diet, sacrifice…
“But cycling is like that sometimes, the things don’t go the way we want so we can only keep working hard because our reward will arrive sooner or later.
“I talked with Yousif after dinner when we was more relaxed and I could see on his face the sadness and disappointment – more than for himself, it was for all the people that bet on him to be here in Rio in the best condition possible.
“So he will now take three days off from the bike and we will start preparing for the next goals that are coming soon, which is mainly the Asian championship in October. I’m sure Yousif will get an amazing result there.”