John gunning for overall victory in final two stages

By Michelangelo Jacobus

DESPITE placing third over the last weekend in the first leg of the Forbes Burnham Memorial Three-Stage Cycling road race in Berbice, Team Coco’s cyclist Jamual John will be looking to win the overall event with the final two stages set for next Sunday in Linden and Georgetown.

In an exclusive interview with Chronicle Sport, John pointed out that despite his third-place finish he still has a chance to win the overall event. “Although I finished third last week I can still win it by either winning both legs come Sunday or by placing in the top three finishers on both occasions.”

Despite his highly successful 2017 campaign in which he finished with the most wins and collected the Guyana Cycling Federation’s (GCF) Best Cyclist accolade, John has never won the Forbes Burnham Memorial Three-Stage event.

This being an elusive trophy, John said that he is training hard for the coming races on Sunday, “I’m putting in the work and I’ll try my best to win the last two legs of the race.”
Three days ago on Sunday, Michael Anthony prevailed against 50 of the country’s top cyclists and held off Team Alanis’ Paul DeNobrega and Team Coco’s rider Jamual John to claim the victory in a time of one hour 54 minutes 0.1 seconds. He finished ahead of DeNobrega who pipped John on the line.

Out of the 50 starters, only 39 crossed the finish line. The annual three-stage race is organised by the Burnham Foundation group and is supervised by the Flying Stars Cycling Club.

The final two legs of the race will pedal off next Sunday (February 25) with the second stage from Linden to Georgetown beginning at 07:30hrs and then the third stage on the same day at 14:00hrs from Homestretch Avenue to Belfield, East Coast Demerara and back.