TEAM Coco’s Guyana junior cyclist Raul Leal yesterday shocked a star-studded field to take the feature event in a time of 1h. 7m: 7seconds in the inaugural Assuria Insurance Company cycling programme held around the inner circuit of the National Park.

Twenty-nine cyclists, including Robin Persaud, Junior Niles, Raynauth Jeffrey, Jude Bentley, Paul Choo-Wee-Nam, Walter Grant-Stuart, Marlon ‘Fishy’ Williams and Paul De Nobrega, faced the starter for the 35 laps event.
As early as the fifth lap, Leal, Persaud, Choo-Wee-Nam and Niles broke away and held a lead of approximately 75 metres on the peloton, which they gradually increased as the laps went by. The event was witnessed by several cycling enthusiasts and representatives of the sponsor.
The question on the minds of those witnessing the event was not who would win the race, but how soon the quartet at the helm would be joined by the chasing peloton from the rear, a feat they achieved during the 26th lap, while Bentley, Jeffrey, Alex Mendes and Alonzo Ambrose suffered a spill as they took the turn, 200 metres away from the finish line, one lap later.
All four leaders and the other cyclists who were in the peloton, did their best to avoid being caught up in the spill, ensuring that just the four cyclists went down and while they all got back up, only Bentley, Jeffrey and Ambrose rejoined the event, as Mendes who suffered the worst of the injuries with abrasions to his thighs and outer calf area, called it a day.
With just under 300 metres to the finish line during the final lap, Leal surprised the other three cyclists and made his move to front, winning by three bicycle lengths over Persaud, with Niles claiming third and Choo-Wee-Nam fourth.
Williams outsprinted a hardworking Wasim Gafoor to take fifth place as only 12 of the starters completed the event that was staged in sweltering heat. Of the eight prime prizes that were up for grabs, Persaud took home four, Niles two while Leal and Bentley one each.
The day’s programme which was organised by national cycling coach Hassan Mohamed got under way with the staging of the Boys 12 to 14 five-lap race which was won by Romel Crawford in a time of 12m:15secs over Tyriq Hall and Jason Jordan respectively.
Leal suffered an upset in the Junior/Juvenile category, where he was forced to settle for second place behind Berbice’s Jaban Crawford who rode the 10 laps in a time of 23m:43secs, with Montel Anthony, the younger brother of Leal’s Team Coco Guyana teammate Michael Anthony, finishing third.
Niles took the Veterans Under-50 five-lap event from Stephen Fernandes and Kennard Lovell, Lancelot Rose rode off with the Over-50 category ahead of Dwayne Ramsay and Courtney Hackett, while the Over-60 category was won by Maurice Fagundes with Krisendat Singh placing second.
Keon Thomas continues to be a force to be reckoned with on the new trail being used by the Mountain Bike cyclists, taking that five-lap event with ease, with Julio Melville and Stephanoo Husbands finishing second and third respectively.
Rashidi Ceres won the BMX Boys 9 to 12 race from Taran Garbarran, Jamar Huliger the 6 to 9 from Ken Sahadeo and Jeremiah Harrison; Rawle Small the 12 to 14 over Bryton John and Shamar Grannum and Jason Jordan the BMX Open category from Jamal John and Earl Ramkissoon, before Leal and company thrilled the spectators with their dazzling performances in the feature event.
Representatives of the sponsor were on hand to assist with the presentation of prizes. The cyclists will turn their attention to the West Demerara carriageway this morning, when they compete in the fifth annual and second leg of this year’s Cheddi Jagan Memorial cycle road race, which is being sponsored by Krishna Samlall, a businessman of Parika.
De Nobrega is the defending champion in both the senior and junior categories for this event, having won last year’s race in a time of 1h.59mins:24secs and will be looking to make amends, after suffering mechanical failures which forced him to make an exit from yesterday’s feature race after 14 laps.
Talim Shaw (Veterans Open), Dexter Wilson (Upright), Naomi Singh (Female) and Walter Isaacs (Veterans Over-60) are the defending champions of the other categories, making this morning’s race which pedals off from the Wales Police Station and proceeds to Bushy Park and back to the Demerara Harbour Bridge for the finish, an exciting one.