Jamual John won a scintillating battle in yesterday’s finale but Briton John won the war and pedaled away with the overall spoils of this year’s Independence Three-Stage road race.
A gutsy solo escape for the first stage win on Saturday followed by two gritty performances, a close fourth and second place finishes in the other legs enabled the United We Stand club rider to earn the winner’s trophy of this year’s event.
After two days and close to 170 miles of racing, Briton John rode for 6h:56m.57s to claim the overall honors of the 35th edition of the prestigious race which returned after a four-year hiatus.
His breakaway mate and namesake Jamual John finished second overall 12 seconds behind (6h:57m:09s) while Paul DeNobrega (Team Evolution) completed the podium in 7h:01m:56s.
Raynauth Jeffrey (7:02:17) who won the second stage along with Christopher Griffith (7:02:23) of Team Evolution and Alex Mendes (7:02:26) were the top six overall finishers.
Third stage (Linden to Thirst Park)
After breaking away from the peloton near Splashmins, the two star riders, who share the same surname but are not related, rode as a team to create distance.
And distance they did create, in excess of five minutes at its peak. With a 14-second lead on Jamual heading into Linden, Briton was content to sit back and preserve his lead but the Team Foundation cyclist had other plans. With the finish line drawing near, he begun a series of attacks in an effort to ‘drop’ Briton. But each attack was thwarted by the tireless wheelsman who showed sublime form during the weekend of racing.
Jamual John’s final attack near Rahaman’s Park eventually created a three-second distance from Briton John and he went on to win the stage but it simply was not enough to unseat Briton John from his first place position.
Briton John, 21, said he was just a junior when he first competed in the event which was last staged in 2016. Since then he was gunning for a victory. Five years on, he is the title holder of Guyana’s longest tenured cycling event.
“This is my second three-stage and I had to win it. I feel great about winning this race. It’s a big success for me.”
It is without a doubt the biggest win of his young but successful cycling career.
For his heroics, Briton John pocketed $70,000 while Jamual John, took home $60,000. The other top six finishers received $50,000, $40,000, $35,000 and $25,000 respectively.
The females and juniors were not required to ride the third stage and their championship was calculated based on the positions of the first and second stages.
Junior cyclist, David Hicks, also of We Stand United Cycle Club, won the overall prize of $50,000 ahead of the first stage winner, Mario Washington who got $35,000.
Aaron Newton, another We Stand United Cycle Club product, placed third to pocket $25,000 and 13-year-old Alex Leung came fourth.
Linden’s Suzanna Hamilton was the top female and won $50,000; she was followed by Shenika Teixeira and 13-year-old debutant Aneisha Crandon, who were awarded $35,000 and $25,000 respectively.
The next event for the Guyana Cycling Federation will be the National Cycling Championships which will start on Saturday with the Time Trials followed by the Road Race on Sunday.
