PHILIPSBURG--St. Martin Tri Academy's Gregory Pigeon and VCG's Alban Clerc both outshone their rivals in the respective A and B category races during the 8th edition of the Friendly Island Cycling Championship on Sunday.
Organisers Mo Trouble and Neutral News chose the fearsome Bishop's Hill as part of the circuit for the hostilities on this occasion. Due to a late arrival by the police escort, the number of laps for the A class were reduced from 10 to eight, but offered little respite from the heat. B class were asked to complete five laps and C class three.
With an uphill start, the circuit took the riders through Middle Region, up Mount William Hill before the descent down into Dutch Quarter, and then a long climb up the infamous Bishop's Hill to the finish at the top on a straight section.
Patricio "Blade" Carty set a punishing pace to lead the 10 A class riders on the first lap, but it wasn't until the third lap that triathlete Pigeon attacked on Bishops Hill to maintain the lead all the way to the finish.
Blade suffered a broken seat on the sixth lap, but still finished second and who knows how the race would have turned out if that had not happened.
"For two laps, I had to pedal standing up and that took a lot of energy out of me, it was too hard to close the gap," said Blade afterwards. "I was forced to change bike and shoes. I lost time, but I was still far enough ahead for them not to catch me."
Third place in the A category went to Dean Hodge. Mark Maidwell finished fourth and Otis Cotton fifth.
"After a month off and just starting back, it was hard," said Hodge. "The only time you got to recover was coming down in to Dutch Quarter then you had to power up again for Bishop's Hill. It doesn't look that hard, but it is a tough hill."
Herman Janssen was a new face in the A class, switching from mountain bike to road bike. He had a flat on the course and dropped back in the standings.
The large B category with 20 riders was won by the sensational 14-year-old VCG prodigy Alban Clerc, who even lapped some of the A class riders. Frederic Deketele came in second, Philogene Ferdinand was third, Alfred Berchel fourth and Johnito Berry fifth.
The C class, just five riders, was won by Kianny Noel, Kennick Cozier second and Murielle Lancien third.
Individual times were not recorded.
