Team Coco’s dominate first two stages

..Jeffrey leads race
TEAM COCO’S dominance on long distance races in Guyana was yesterday underlined at the completion of the first two stages in the National Sports Commission/Ministry of Sport/Ministry of Health/Guyana Cycling Federation seventh annual ‘Ride for Life’ five-stage cycle road race yesterday.

National Road Race and Time Trial champion, Raynauth ‘Obeah Man’ Jeffrey, took the first stage of this year’s event from the 62 starters yesterday morning, while his Team Coco’s teammate in Barbados’ Darren Matthews, took the second later in the day, securing Jeffrey’s lead heading into this morning’s third stage.
After Jeffrey was presented with his symbolic yellow jersey for his first stage win, the 56 starters who completed the first stage earlier yesterday morning were sent on their way for the 60 miles course by National Cycling Coach, Hassan Mohammed.
As they passed D’Edward Village on the West Coast of Berbice, Alanzo Greaves, Junior Niles, Paul Choo-Wee-Nam, and John Charles made their way to the front of the peloton which included Jeffrey, Matthews, Geron Williams, Godfrey Pollydore, Orville Hinds and Paul DeNobrega, just to name a few.
The quartet worked in tandem and held a lead of two minutes and 45 seconds on Matthews and Walter Grant-Stuart and an additional one minute and 20 seconds on the chasing peloton, as they passed through Number Five village.
Grant-Stuart found the pace of the hard working Matthews too much to handle and was wheeled in by the chasing peloton, even as Matthews remained a lone soldier on his way to connecting with the front quartet, which he did just before they crossed the Mahaica bridge.
Choo-Wee-Nam began to suffer cramps just before they reached Ann’s Grove, while Williams, Jeffrey, Pollydore, DeNobrega and Scott Savory connected with Greaves, Niles and Charles, with Niles and Charles being dropped off the pace as they approached Victoria and Savory shortly after.
The battle for supremacy in the second stage was left to be fought between Greaves, Matthews, DeNobrega, Williams, Jeffrey and Pollydore and with Matthews showing signs of fatigue while the others worked tirelessly ahead of him, many felt he would have been dropped off the pace by the front runners.
However, it turned out that he was playing dead to see his funeral and realizing that no one was willing to sing ‘Amazing Grace’ for him, displayed his sprinting prowess to take the second stage in a time of 2h: 21m: 25seconds ahead of Williams, Pollydore, Greaves, DeNobrega and Jeffrey, with all six riders partaking in the bonus times on offer for their respective placing.
Earlier in the day, Jeffrey showed he can be a sprinter, when he took the first stage (46 miles) from the man he defeated to take the National Road Race title this year, Orville Hinds, doing so in a time of 1h. 37m: 42seconds, with Hinds crossing the line eight seconds behind him.
Five cyclists namely Greaves, Hinds, Jeffrey, Pollydore and Robin Persaud, went on a break just as they passed Leeds Village, before Jeffrey and Hinds thought they had enough and made their solo move to the front, while the cat and mouse tactics between Greaves and Persaud continued.
Together the duo worked in tandem to increase their lead over the languishing trio, until they were approximately one kilometer from the finish line, at which point Jeffrey thought he had enough of Hinds and made his move, one that was unanswered from the Team United cyclist.
Pollydore showed he has Greaves’ number when it comes to a sprint for the finish line, when he took the third position with Greaves, Matthews and Williams finishing in that order, while Gerald Yates finished 40 seconds after Jeffrey crossed the line and the peloton another 34 seconds after Yates.
At the end of the first two stages, Jeffrey leads the event with a time of 3h. 58m: 55secs, followed by Matthews who is 37 seconds behind him.
Pollydore, who is in third position, has an additional two seconds behind Matthews in the overall timings, with Williams fourth (+4seconds on Matthews) and Greaves fifth (+6seconds on Matthews), as they head into this morning’s third stage which covers a distance of 35 miles from Wales to Bushy Park, Parika and pedals off at 09:00hrs.
Niles is leading the Veteran’s position with a time of 4h. 01m: 55secs, ahead of Raymond ‘Steely’ Newton’s time of 4h. 2m: 20secs that places him in 10th position overall alongside defending champion Jaime Ramirez, Persaud, Akeem Arthur, Albert Philander, Mario King and Hamza Eastman, while Arthur, King and Eastman are vying for the Junior category.

(By Calvin Roberts)