October 02, 2014 (Crown Point, Tobago) – Yesterday was the start of the 2014 Tobago Cycling Classic. It is a special event for me as it was my first international race outside of Canada in 2005 as a junior rider. It didn’t go well that year, as I broke my chain on Stage 2, crashed hard, and spent the remaining days finishing my Algebra homework.
This year is my seventh time participating in the event. What makes the Tobago Cycling Classic so appealing is the ambiance. I don’t know of any other event where you can race an international field in the morning and enjoy 85-degrees crystal clear water and a sandy beach in the afternoon, so it was only natural that I quickly accepted the invite to race for Emile Abraham’s Incycle Predator squad this year.
Stage 1
Having won on two different occasions on the same course (Stage 6 – Tour of Trinidad and Tobago and Stage 1 of Tobago Cycling Classic 2012), I had high motivation to repeat. The race consisted of 10 laps of 10.7km of mostly flat terrain with a few intermediate sprints. On the very first lap, I got in a breakaway with one of my teammates, Winston David. On the following lap, the break split with him and a Swedish rider off the front. After that, the peloton came back to my group. The heat (38 degrees C) affected lots of riders and the gap went up to 2 minutes, 30 seconds with two laps to go. Then Emile and I broke away with a few other riders. I led him out for third and as we crossed the line, we heard our teammate Winston had won, making it a very strong start for the team with the yellow and points jersey, plus the team GC lead.
Stage 2
The second stage promised to be harder with four laps of 26km with steep climbs and twisted descents. We took charge of the race right from the start. After the first time up the longest climb, the field had shredded from 92 to about 30, and then the first descent did as much damage with only 12 of us remaining in the front group. Michael Olheiser and I then rode tempo all stage to protect Winston’s lead and giving him the best chance to score more points over the other riders. He finished second on the stage behind French rider Daniel Aurélien.
Tomorow is a rest day and then we will be racing two criteriums of 75 and 50km. There will be a livestream of the races available here.
- October 3rd:15h00 GMT -5
- October 4th: 16h00 GMT -5
After that, it’s the UCI race, “Winner takes all”, like my teammate Michael Olheiser would say – 120km with many Cat 3 and 2 climbs with average grades of 8 to 15%.
My Tobago Cycling Classic History
After my first visit, I came back in 2006 with Marc-Wayne Addisson as a DS and I completed the Tour in 13th overall. Two years later, I joined Emile Abraham (Team Gremli), the “local hero”. We won the Tour with New Zealand rider, Heath Blackgrove. In 2009, I did it again with Emile as team Barcode and missed the yellow jersey on Stage 2 by 0.002 seconds after a good time trial and breakaway. I then had bad luck with a mechanical and went on to finish the Tour in ninth. In 2011, the event format changed drastically from typical stage racing to a points Omnium followed by a 1.2 UCI one-day race around the island. I went there with my own Team 1% for the Planet and we won a stage, plus finished second in the UCI race, both with Belgian Nick Daems. The latest time I did the race was in 2012, where I won the first stage and finished fourth on the GC omnium.
Overall Results
1. Winston David (USA) Incycle-Predator 60
2. Patrik Moren (Sweden) Team Argon18 Scandinavia 52
3. Evan Murphy (USA) Team Foundation 21
4. Timothy Rugg (USA) Team Rio Grande 20
5. Jean Michel Lechance (Canada) Incycle-Predator 20
6. Thibault Jeannes (France) PSL/Well Services 18
7. Anton Varabei (Canada) Team Rio Grande 12
8. Andrew Scarano (USA) Incycle-Predator 10
9. Jake Silverberg (USA) Slipstream 10
10. Peter Carlsson (Sweden) Team Argon18 Scandinavia 10
Division 1 – Stage 1 Results here
Division 1 – Overall Results here
Division 1 – U23 Stage 1 Results here