Norbert Wins Road Cycle Race

ONLY seventeen riders showed up under overcast skies on Sunday morning to do battle in the 2017 National Road Race Cycling Championship organized by the Saint Lucia Cycling Association.

Also in the lineup were two riders from Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, namely Zefal Bailey and Enroy Lewis.

Among the participants were nine senior riders, six juniors and two juveniles.

The event began way beyond the scheduled 8:00 a.m. start and was reduced by one lap from 122.4 km to 102 km with the juveniles doing 3 laps or 61.2 km.

By the first climb into Millennium Highway, a select group of nine riders was up front, including Zefal Bailey, Enroy Lewis (Saint Vincent and the Grenadines), Andrew Norbert, Kluivert Mitchel, Jessie Mentor (Mon Repos), Joshua Prince, Jordan Joseph (Dennery Valley), Fidel Esnard (Project Breakaway) and Winston Williams (Excellers).

Into the 20 km mark, the pack was reduced further with five riders — Bailey, Mitchel, Mentor, Norbert and Esnard — as Enroy Lewis suffered a busted chain and was out of the lead group 23 km into the race going into Millennium Highway.

Commonwealth Youth Games selectee Mitchel was forced to stop to put on his bike chain which came off and Mentor unable to stay with the leaders consisting of Bailey, Esnard and Norbert at this point. Mitchel and Mentor were able to chase and join the lead group by the 35 km into the race consisting of 5 riders, with Williams getting back to the leaders by 42 km after a long chase.

Ten kilometres later, descending from Millenium Highway and returning to Castries, Bailey went down crashing while negotiating the La Toc roundabout. After checking his injuries, including bruises and a cut, he was back on his bike within a minute to continue his race.

With a group of five together consisting of Mentor, Mitchel, Norbert, Esnard and Williams, 63 km into the race Norbert made a bold statement as he surged ahead on the hill near Victoria Hospital during the 4th lap and went on his own, breaking up the pack, with Esnard on his own followed by Mitchel, Williams and Mentor all riding alone.

From there on, Norbert was able to hold off everyone and ride to victory, covering the 5 laps (102 km) in a time of 3 hours, 7 minutes and 32 seconds. Esnard was second in 3 hours, 9 minutes and 33 seconds. Mitchel was third in a time of 3 hours and 14 minutes. Fourth was Winston Williams in 3 hours and 16 minutes and 5th Zafal Bailey 3 hours and 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, Joshua Prince was the only one out of two participants to finish the 3 laps (61.2 km) distance of juveniles (15/16 years), finishing in a time of 1 hour, 59 minutes and 10 seconds.