SEASONED cyclists Briton John and Raynauth Jeffery won the opening stages of this weekend’s Independence Cycling Meet, which were held yesterday in Berbice and Georgetown (the second stage finished in the Capital City).

The two cyclists and several other top riders will look to push themselves this morning in the final stage of the event, which rides off from Kara Kara in Linden to Banks DIH in Georgetown.
Despite picking up the win in the long afternoon race, the US-based Jeffery, who was out of the top five in the morning race, will have some catching up to do.

At the end of every stage, the top six cyclists benefit from bonus time, which will be subtracted once the final leg is finished.
It, therefore, means that this morning’s third stage will be considerably different from yesterday ‘group race’, given that those behind in terms of time, will need to make up valuable seconds in order to stand a chance at overall victory.

John with a victory and a fourth-place finish, Paul DeNobrega with two third-place positions and former national champion Jamual John with a fourth place in the morning and a second place in the afternoon will fancy themselves in the final race.

According to unofficial tabulation, Jeffrey, Christopher Griffith, Alex Mendes, Steve Fernandes, Walter Grant Stuart, Kemuel Moses and Paul Chooweenam in that order are also in the top 10 on the leader’s board.

FIRST STAGE
The first stage of the event was the Berbice leg, with cyclists battling through wet conditions and at times, muddy roads, due to farming activities in the communities.
In the end, it was the sprinting prowess of Briton John, the current Guyana Cycling Federation points’ leader so far this season, which decided the outcome.

Adealie Hodge was ahead of the pack with two miles to go, but four chasers were hot on his trail and closing in. Michael Anthony dropped from that pack, while Briton John, who fancies his sprints was able to surge ahead of Hodge to finish the 46-mile event in a time of 1:44:37.

DeNobrega was able to pull ahead of Jamual John for the third position, while Christopher Griffith placed fifth and Mario Washington sixth.
Jeffrey and several other big names entered soon after in a large second pack.

SECOND STAGE
Needing to make up time, Jeffery, who is hoping to make the national team for the Caribbean Cycling Championships, scheduled for the Dominican Republic in July, took an early lead in the second race, but he was caught.

In that race, cyclists battled from the Berbice Harbour Bridge, Rosignol to Carifesta Avenue in Georgetown for the finish.
Towards the end, it was Griffith who surged ahead and he looked solid. By Lusignan, he had a 100M lead, but it began to decrease and soon the pack engulfed him.
The riders then kept that group intact, with each sprinter being caught and reeled back in.

It looked like it would come down to a sprint finish and it did. In the end, when Jeffery took off he could not be caught.
Jamual and DeNobrega followed soon after, with Briton John in fourth and masters’ cyclist Alex Mendes in fifth. Griffith finished sixth.
Jeffrey later told Chronicle Sport that he trusted his sprinting skilling towards the end.

He said that he is always happy to race back home and that the win has given him confidence for the third stage.
This morning, the seniors and masters cyclists will compete in a 64-mile battle to decide a Third Stage winner and the overall champion.

According to the federation, the juniors and female cyclists will not compete in the third stage, so the first two stages will decide the respective winners.
The Independence Three-Stage race is the flagship event of the GCF. It was first held in 1983 and was an annual event until 2016. This year, the Government of Guyana, through the Ministry of Sport has helped to resuscitate it.

It comes one week before the National Championships peddle off.