09 May 2010 – RACE #2 – 45 mile Road Race
Jasper Mikklesen, better known for his Iron Man credentials, snuck away from a breakaway group of 6 riders to win the 2ndevent of the series ‘solo’ by over a minute from a chasing group. Over a period of nearly two hours the course took a strong field of 43 riders from Grand Harbour to East End, to The Reef and Northside before finishing on the bypass just to the west of Lantern Point passing Breakers, Bodden Town and Savannah along the way.
Racing was neutral until Bodden Town, at which point 2009 Series winner Steve Abbott took to the front of the field to raise the pace. Closely monitored by Michele Smith, Michael Stomps and Denis Brooks, the field rode a steady pace until the 1streal attack of the day came a mile before the 1stintermediate sprint at the “cottage”.
Master Laurent Weber took the 1stsprint, with a fast approaching field lead by Smith, Abbot and Jerome Begot (‘Pilot’) completing the Open category. As the peloton approached East End a few riders including Gabe Rabess & Stomps maintained a small gap ahead of the peloton before being caught as a head wind began to bite.
The 2ndsprint was a dead heat between Brooks and Martin Van Zyl with Stomps taking 3rd, the leading trio in fact had a small gap on the rest of the field.
What was to be a key moment of the race began to unfold along the Queens Highway section of the course, with Mikkleson, Abbott, Smith, Brooks, Stomps, Chris Graham and Steve Evans pulling clear and opening up a sizable gap back to the peloton as a result of the significant increase in speed.
As the breakaway approached the 3rdsprint at the Frank Sound Fire Station, Mikklesen took advantage of Brooks and Smith, who were focused on the Sprint, by deciding to ride of up the road alone. Once the gap had formed, and without an organized chase, Mikkleson made his race winning move. Smith took 2ndat the sprint with Abbott 3rd.
The remaining peloton shortly followed with Chris Sutton (Masters), Pam Travers (Womens) and Toby Sutton (Juniors) taking the win at the 3rdand final intermediate sprint.
In Bodden Town the chasing breakaway, by this time just consisting of Abbott, Stomps, Smith, Brooks and Graham, were losing their battle to catch Mikkleson as some members of the breakaway clearly unwilling to help catch him. Things were made worse when Smith came off his bike following a short lapse in concentration.
At the finish Mikklesen earned a deserved victory, with Abbott finishing strongly in the sprint for 2ndplace ahead of Brooks, Stomps & Graham. Smith then out sprinted the 3rdgroup on the road for 6thplace ahead of Rabess, Ray Welds, Van Zyl and Evans.
A larger 4thgroup containing some strong contenders for the Open division shortly followed; with Sutton out sprinting Weber to win the Master’s division and the group also included Pam Travers, the only woman in the group. As a result of her impressive ride she won the Women’s Division. Toby Sutton beat Michael Testori to win the junior division.
The achievement of the day, however, was attained by young Alex McCallum, who finished 3rdin the junior division despite having never ridden a race of that distance before.
Many thanks to all 43 participants, the photographer Will Bignal, Jerome Ameline, Mark Hennings, Vico Testori, the RCIPS, and the Committee members for hosting such a successful event.
In the Open division, Steve Abbott increased his lead in the Series to 5pts with Jasper Mikkleson leaping from 5thto 2ndfollowing his win at the weekend. 2010 series Favorite Michele Smith shall be ruing his luck following his fall in Bodden Town as he drops to 3rdoverall.
Pam Travers is the new Women’s division leader following an extremely strong performance in Race #2 in which we saw her drop all her rivals during the race and finish with some strong men. 5pts behind Pam is Toni Pinkerton in 2ndwith Caroline Cahill 3rdwith 24 points.
Chris Sutton played a tactical race by winning 2 sprints and finishing 1stin the Master’s division to leap frog Laurent Weber to the top of the overall standings by 1 point. Having missed the first event Douglas Elliot nudges John Broad into 4thspot and is 3rdin the division with 13 points.
In an exciting dual between Toby Sutton & Michael Testori in the Junior division, Testori was showing the 2009 division champion Sutton how to sprint by beating him in the first two sprints of the day. However Sutton increased his lead in the division to 5 points by claiming the 3rdsprint and the important win at the finish.
02 May 2010 – RACE #1 – 5km Individual Time Trial
2009 Series winner Steve Abbott surprised most onlookers when he posted the fastest time of 6m43s for 5km on Sunday, at an average speed of 28mph. The win was up for grabs as last year’s winner (and the course record holder with 6m 36s) Jerome Ameline was absent following a training accident, and the field did not disappoint with many personal best times recorded on a day when the wind made for a very difficult course. Three cyclists posted sub 7 minute times with Michele Smith 2nd, just 2secs slower than Steve, and Michael Stomps finishing 3rdto complete the top 3 men.
In the women’s division Toni Pinkerton improved on her 3rdplace finish in this event last year by taking the win by 12 seconds over Pam Travers. Pam, a new comer to the sport nudged an impressive Sarah Superfine into 3rdspot, 17secs back.
Another surprise on the day was produced by Laurent Weber, who posted a respectable 7m35 to earn the win in the Master’s Division by a margin of 25secs. 2008 and 2009 Series winner (in this Division) Chris Sutton, not only had to settle for 2ndplace, but will possibly be faced with a tougher challenge to the title he has generally called his own over the past few years. John Broad completed the top 3.
There were no surprises in the Junior Division as 2009 winner Toby Sutton took the win. Although he, like his father, will have noticed that Michael Testori missed out on the win by just a slender 1sec. Michael is relatively new to the sport and on first impressions has a good pair of legs on him. With Julian Johnson completing the top 3, we can be sure for an exciting competition in the Junior Division this year.
Many thanks to all 35 participants, the RCIPS, “Coach”, Alan & Barbara and the Committee members for hosting such a successful event.
May 2010 saw the 4th annual Cayman Classic Series, presented by Karim Awe of 
