New route results in new winners

The Cayman Islands Cycling Association crowned new champions at its recent road race championships. 

The race was shorter than usual at around 42 miles rather than the by now standard 60 miles, with a new finish along Lover’s Wall on the way into East End presenting cyclists with a challenging run in to the finish line. With a number of top cyclists taking time off after competing in the Island Games, the race started without potential top finishers Michele Smith and Jerome Ameline, but still boasted a very strong field including defending champions Johan Heath, fresh off a very good performance at Ironman Switzerland. However, due to the course, it was expected that a more punchy cyclist like Steve Abbott, Barry Jones or even junior Michael Testori could have a shot at the title. 

In the women’s race, Pam Abbott decided not to start, which left Donna Harding as the favourite to take the title. 

Due to his ambition of taking the overall title, Testori elected to enter in the open division rather than the junior division, which meant that the anticipated battle between Testori and Toby Sutton for the junior title would not take place, leaving Sutton as the clear favourite, while Chris Sutton looked set to wrap up the masters’ division again. 

The event started from the Lighthouse Restaurant, with a short neutral zone until the peloton passed the Frank Sound junction. Due to the shorter overall race distance, the speed started picking up early as cyclists tried their best to get into a meaningful breakaway or just rid the peloton of potential challengers should the event come down to a bunch sprint at the end. Jones was one of the early animators, but the peloton did not allow him to gain a significant lead. Abbott worked hard from early on as he marked moves, indicating that he might not have been as focussed on the win as some of the other cyclists who were hanging around close to the front of the peloton but not spending quite as much time fighting the wind. 

With two passes across the eventual finish line during the race, the cyclists were able to get a good look at the finish, which would prove challenging due to a slight uphill grade as well as being very exposed to the wind. 

The pace picked up some more on the second lap as the peloton started shedding some of the less fit cyclists and those still with the lead group started weighing up their chances of a podium finish. 

As the peloton turned left out of Frank Sound for the final time, cyclists started looking around for wheels to follow to the line.  

However, with some of the favourites marking one another in the peloton, Steven Evans managed to ride off the front with Testori on his wheel as they started the approach to the line. The peloton was slow to respond initially until Marius Deysel responded to the move, with Patrick Smith going with him. Deysel moved onto Smith’s wheel and as Smith started to fade the duo was caught by Jacob Luttermann, who took up the chase with Deysel glued to his wheel. By this time Evans had sat up and Testori was on his own with Luttermann closing fast. Once they were within striking distance of Testori, Deysel jumped away from Luttermann and onto Testori’s wheel, from where he jumped again to move into the lead. Luttermann and Testori were pushing hard to pull themselves back up to Deysel’s wheel, but it was a fast-finishing Jones who posed the greatest threat to Deysel. Jones had left his move late, having marked Abbott in the peloton while others moved off the front. However, after a final surge by Deysel to ensure he remained ahead of Jones, Deysel claimed the win with Jones a close second, followed by Luttermann and Testori. 

Chris Sutton performed very well, taking fifth place overall and the masters’ division, while Harding won the women’s division ahead of Risa Goldberg and Helen Spiegel. 

Toby Sutton managed to make it two titles for the Sutton family as he wrapped up the junior title. 

After the event, cyclists returned to the Lighthouse Restaurant for refreshments and the prize giving ceremony. Abbott, the association president, thanked everyone for their participation, with a special word of thanks for the marshals, race photographer Trevor Murphy and the Lighthouse Restaurant which sponsored refreshments for the event.