EIGHTY-FIVE cyclists, including defending champion Yosmani Pol, along with his Team Coco teammates Iván Domínguez, Frank Travieso and David Culli, will face the starter for the first leg of this year’s 30th annual National Sports Commission (NSC) Independence three-stage cycle road race which pedals off from Corriverton this morning.
Pol won last year’s event in a time of 6hrs.39mins:34secs, creating history in the process, as he became the first non-national to do so, but with the number of cyclists who have shown an interest for this year’s event, he can surely expect a stern test if he intends to repeat as champion.
Like Pol, Travieso also created history in 2010 when he won the third annual Ministry of Health/Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport’s annual five-stage ‘Ride for Life’ event, after the first two were won by Alonso Greaves and Junior Niles in 2008 and 2009 respectively.
Domínguez who is also known as ‘The Cuban Missile’, was born in Havana, Cuba on May 28, 1976 and defected to the United States of America in 1998, acquiring citizenship for his new country one year later.
He rode for the Franco MRI Racing Team and was a Pan American gold medallist in 1997, but what he would be remembered for in the cycling fraternity to date is his shocking win in the seventh stage of the 2007 Tour of California, where he outsprinted his rivals including Thor Hushovd, while still being an unknown in the cycling world.
Such a victory earned him his nickname and this year for this event, he will be up against the likes of last year’s runner-up Warren ‘40’ McKay, Alonso Greaves, Geron Williams and to an extent Anguilla-based Guyanese Godfrey Pollydore.
At one time, Pollydore, along with overseas-based Guyanese Dwayne Jupiter, controlled the carriageway that is being used for this event, with their superb riding and after their migration several local cyclists looked to take up that mantle.
Other cyclists of the calibre of the vast-improving Raynauth Jeffrey, Robin Persaud, Albert Philander, Marlon ‘Fishy’ Williams, Junior Niles, Ian ‘Dumb Boy’ Jackson, Walter Grant-Stuart, Orville Hinds and Paul De Nobrega will be looking to leave their mark on this year’s event.
There are also Guy Costa, Phillip Clarke, Marloe Rodman and Marc Ogiste from Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados’ Jamal Eastman and Darren Matthews, along with Scott Savory and Gerald Yates from the USA, who have all registered to compete, while Suriname withdrew their team from the event two days ago.
Two stages will be held today, with the first pedalling off from Corriverton Police Station at 0730hrs and proceeding to Alexander Street in New Amsterdam, covering a distance of 46.6 miles (75km).
The second will pedal off at 14:00hrs today, with the cyclists making their way to Carifesta Avenue after being given the go-ahead to move from the Rosignol Stelling, riding a distance of 60.4miles (97.1km) in the process, while the third and final stage takes place tomorrow from Kara Kara in Linden to Homestretch Avenue, a distance of 64.5miles (103.3km).
All told, the cyclists would have covered a distance of 171.5 miles (274.3km) over the two days, where the fittest of cyclists would have displayed stamina, grit and determination to conclude the journey, with the presentation ceremony taking place shortly after at a venue to be named.
Registration for the event closed off on Tuesday and all cyclists are requested to wear their club jerseys along with numbers and licences issued before the start of the event. Failure to do so would see the defaulting cyclist or cyclists unable to compete.