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By Neto Baptiste
National and veteran cyclist Jyme Bridges Jr dominated the field to capture his 11th National Individual Road Race held on Sunday.
Bridges, who rides for Team Vipers, dominated the Top Ranking-sponsored event from start to finish and completed the five-lap event in a time of 2:41:49.97. He also dominated the Elite Male category, finishing some nine minutes ahead of visiting cyclist Alexander Whittaker who flew in from the UK for the race.
Newell Mack (2:52:51.01), Shawn Weathered (2:54:23.52), Delvin Peters (2:54:23.55) and Marcos Ozuna (2:5423.64), all of Team Pillars Cycling, were third, fourth, fifth and sixth respectively.
Speaking with Observer media following the triumph, Bridges said the strategy was to open an early gap and try to stay ahead a must as possible.
“I put down a big attack to really shake up some of the other contenders. They did put a chase in and got back close at one time, but when you’re coming up against elements as we had [Sunday] because the elements was the biggest factor in the race and in our strategy so once I had a comfortable lead getting into that section of the course, it would really be tough for anybody to come back from behind at that point,” he said.
Wadadli Cycling Academy’s Jahiem Telemaque rounded off the top seven finishers with a time of 3:00:46.50.
Bridges said the elements proved the more difficult factor throughput the gruelling race.
“The most difficult part was the wind because I got away pretty early in that race and I was pretty much on my own for the majority of it and the air pressure for the last couple of days has been very high. The wind speeds were very strong [on Sunday] so I would say definitely that anytime we were headed in an eastward direction against the wind, that was really tough and coming down Friars Hill, that’s the fun spot for everyone. When you come off of [Friars Hill) at 30 or 40 miles per hour, that’s where most of the fun happens as it’s the easiest part on the course and it really just give you a chance to reset your legs for the workload ahead,” he said.
Meanwhile, young Aiden Tonge dominated the Junior Male category in a time of 2:12:44.33 with Jomari King in second with a time of 2:12:44.87. Both riders represented Team Viper.
Action in the Masters category was dominated by Wayne Henry of Team Pillars Cycling with Randy Simon of Team Viper and Micah Gore of Road Runners Cycling Club finishing second and third respectively.
Steve Scott finished ahead of the competition in the Sports Class with Tyson Robinson and Cornel Hughes rounding off the top three. Young and upcoming cyclist Elite Thomas won the Cadets 11-14 age category with Grayson Burrell and Alexis Bastardo second and third respectively. Daena Bird, the lone competitor in the Junior Female category, clocked a time of 45:09.69 to complete the required one lap.
The Individual Time Trial that was slated for Saturday =, was postponed due to rain. The cycling federation is set to a new date in the coming days.
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