By Michael DaSilva

TEAM Evolution’s Orville Hinds successfully defended his annual Independence Three-Stage cycle road race title by returning seven hours 10 minutes .34 seconds for the 171.4-mile two-day event, which got under way on Saturday in Berbice and concluded on Homestretch Avenue, Georgetown, yesterday.Hinds, who won the event last year in a time of six hours 52 minutes 26 seconds won the first stage (Corriverton, Berbice to New Amsterdam, Berbice), a distance of 46.1miles in one hour 41minutes 14 seconds, placed second to Anguillan Joseph Hercules in stage two (Rosignol, Berbice to Carifesta Avenue (Georgetown), returning two hours, 34 minutes 39 seconds for the 64-mile stage.

For the final stage (Kara Kara Linden Highway to Homestretch Avenue) yesterday, The Team Evolution cyclist crossed the finish line unchallenged in a time of two hours, 54 minutes 41 seconds (2.54:41).
Hinds received 27 bonus seconds for the three stages. He received 10 seconds for winning the first and third stages and a further seven bonus seconds for placing second in stage two, which makes his official winning time is seven hours 10 minutes .07 seconds.
Hinds’s team-mates Michael Anthony, Marlon Williams and Raul Leal placed second, third and fifth respectively.
Linden Bauxite Flyers’ Shaquille Agard and Silvio Inniss placed fourth and sixth overall, respectively.
Anthony’s overall time was 7.12:46, while Williams’s time was 7.14:02.
Agard, Leal and Inniss’s times were 7.14:10, 7.14:40 and 7.15:07, respectively.
Speaking with Chronicle Sport after the event, Hinds said: “It is a great feeling to have won the race last year and again this year.
Asked if his approach to this year’s event was any different from last year, the Lindener said there basically was nothing different since, according to him, all races are competitive, so he had to know how to approach each stage of the 171.4-mile event.
Asked what has been his best feeling since getting involved in the sport, Hinds said: “That would be when I won the national road race championship last year,” adding, “After winning that championship, I started to look for a way forward and at the moment I’m very dominant.”
Hinds said that for yesterday’s final stage, he knew he had bonus time on the other starters so he did not “fight up” too much to be at the head of affairs, but after turning onto the East Bank Demerara road, he stepped up his pace and took over the lead at Coverden and “just kept going until I crossed the finish line.”
Meanwhile, Raphael Leung who finished 12th with an overall time of 7.21:47, was adjudged winner of the junior category ahead of Trojan cyclists Andrew Hicks (7.22:59) and Christopher Cornelius (7.25:05) respectively.
Junior Niles finished third overall in the first stage (1.41:14) and was the first veteran to cross the finish line in that stage, placing eighth in stage two (2.36:16) and eight again in the third stage (2.59:09) and won the overall veteran category with a time of 7.16:34. He placed eighth overall.
Stephen Fernandes of Team Evolution placed second in the veterans’ category with an overall time of 7.21:57, while Raymond Newton ended third with a time of 7.23:14. Fernandes finished 13th overall, while Newton placed 16th overall.
Speaking at the presentation ceremony shortly after the race, Minister within the Ministry of Education with responsibility for Sport, Nicolette Henry, in very brief remarks said she was happy to see that the race was a success and her ministry will continue to support the activity yearly. She noted that this year’s race was part of Guyana’s 50th Independence Anniversary celebrations.