Following his victory in the previous days Time Trial, Guadeloupe’s leading cyclist, Boris Carene, raced to back-to back-victories in the Championships. Photo: Antigua & Barbuda Cycling Association

Local cyclists Shaquiel Samuel and Darel Christopher Jnr. ran out of steam on the 3rd lap of 4 during the 84 mile Road Race. Photo: BVICF

Christopher Jnr. completed 3 laps/63 miles in a time 2:56:48. However, by that time he was already approximately 15 minutes behind the race leader and was stopped by race officials. Shaquel Samuel, who also completed 3 laps/63 miles in a time 3:42:01, met the same fate.

Following his victory in the previous days Time Trial, Guadeloupe’s leading cyclist, Boris Carene, raced to back-to back-victories in the Championships, but was forced to dig deep to survive a challenge on the homeward stretch.

Three cyclists from Guadeloupe, Puerto Rico and the host country closed in on Carene in a dramatic chase to the finish. However, the winner of last year’s 61st edition of the Tour de Guadeloupe held on long enough to eclipse his ambitious rivals and win in 3:35:46. Puerto Rico’s Efren A Ortega Rivera clocked 3:35:47 to take second spot and Country man Larochelle Stephane placed third in a time of 3:35:48 while Antigua and Barbuda’s Jyme Bridges finished in 3:35:49.

Carene, a member of the Gwada Bikers team, was invincible as he beat a field of 88 riders to secure gold in the men’s time trial. He finished comfortably clocking 55:08 seconds about three minutes ahead of the second placed Cedric Eustache of Martinique while Curacao’s Hilard Cijntje was third.

After the race both Christopher Jnr. and Samuel commented that they needed more training and exposure in order to be competitive against the caliber of riders they faced in the Caribbean cycling Championship.

Team Manager Colen Corea stated that “the course was very competitive and challenging” and although it’s hard to imagine a better location for preparation than the roads and hills of the VI, he went on to say “out of the over 90 cyclists from 23 Caribbean countries that started the event, only 28 cyclist completed the 4 laps and the remaining cyclists were stopped by officials, or dropped out.”

He also said that Virgin Islands’ cyclists did good based on the training that they received, however, he said that in order to be competitive at such high level of competition, a higher level on training and exposure is needed for the cyclist.

On the face of it the distance was the issue along with conditioning so even after sending riders away to training camps in recent years, there appears a lot of work to be done.

Meantime, Shalini Zabaneh of Belize and Antigua and Barbuda’s Tamiko Butler shared the spotlight in the women’s events.

Zabaneh clocked 31.12 to win the women’s 12 mile trial while Butler, crossed the finish line first in 2:08:40.379 to win the 42 mile road race. Butler had earlier grabbed third place in the women’s 12 mile race.

Prime Minister Baldwin Spencer was among supporters at the roads surrounding the Sir Vivian Richards Cricket Grounds for the country’s first ever hosting of the regional event.