SIMPSON BAY—On paper it looked like a no brainer...sensational teenager Alban Clerc and his VCG mentor, Tour of Guadeloupe champion Ludovic Turpin, team up as favourites to win Sunday’s 4th edition of the Extreme Duo mountain bike race.
And so it might have been had this race not been so unpredictable. Clerc, who won last year’s Duo with Mathéo Patris, carved out a big lead with Turpin by the time they got to St. Peters hill. But in a twist of fate the pair came in second in an exciting sprint finish on Kim Sha beach, two seconds behind winners Emile Bos and Donald Sosef, one of three Bellisima teams from Curacao, who had been stealthily lying in wait, ready to pounce.
Rules dictate you must finish with your partner. Turpin and Clerc were slowed by a puncture on the return leg and had to stop again in Bellevue to put more pressure in Turpin’s tyre. They were then overtaken by Bos and Sosef who completed the distance in 2 hours: 26:22.
“In the beginning we held back as a courtesy since it was our first time here and we didn’t know the course or the level of the riders,” said Emile. “But gradually we kept on overtaking until we got up to the front.
Third place overall went to last week’s Xterra winner Dean Hodge and Fred Quetat in 2:35:43.
Mixed Teams was won by Ronan and Sandra Garnier in 2:45:50 with Liesbeth De Falco and Michael Bacon second in 2:53:50. Annelies Starreveld and Mathieu Kempf finished third in 2:55: 24.
Given the extreme heat it wasn’t surprising to have a few cases of cramp otherwise repeated flats forced some riders to drop out. The only serious injury was to Arnaud Gosse who fell in Bellevue, dislocating his shoulder and sustaining a gash in his leg that required four stitches.
There was another good performance from the up and coming junior riders.
“After St. Peters I was starting to cramp all over but I still made it,” said Kenrick Cozier who finished ninth overall with partner Bannis Ridge.
“It was really rough today with the heat, the sun burning our skin made it difficult to keep a good rhythm on the hills,” added Bannis.
A total of 49 riders formed teams for the 47.2K race that followed an on road/off road course around the island. Prize giving and lunch was held at the Greenhouse, one of the sponsors along with Tri Sport, Loterie Farm, Seaside Nature Park, and Atlantic Signs. Joost Huele organised for the second year in a row.
