In the first road race of the season Dominique Mayho solidified his position as the island’s top rider with a clinical performance in the Winners Edge Road Race.

While Mayho’s comfortable victory was expected, an outstanding ride from Kaden Hopkins, who turned 16 last week and was appearing in his first Adult A category race, probably was not, as he crossed the line well clear of third placed Kwame Curling.

On a day when strong winds and arguable the toughest course of the season took a toll on all concerned, Madison team-mates Mayho and Curling threw down the gauntlet less than a minute after the start.

With the riders leaving Police Headquarters and turning left onto Middle Road, the pair powered away on the winding descent before tackling Cable and Wireless Hill for the first of seven times in the 42 mile race.

Continuing to Flatts Village, the course then took them along North Shore to Commissioners Hill, which would prove to play a significant part in the outcome of the race in the final stages. Turning left onto Frog Lane the riders were faced with strong winds to the hilltop finish back at Police Headquarters.

Clearly after a pre-arranged race plan the two leaders worked tirelessly together lap after lap, eventually building up nearly a two minute lead over the rest of the field.

The other teams of Winners Edge, Tokio, Bicycle Works and BCA, realising the size of the gap, started to work in earnest to bring the race back under control, and it was youngster Matthew Oliviera who got the bit between his teeth and attacked off the front, building up his own lead of 30 seconds over the chasers and reducing the gap between himself and the leaders.

His action spurred Team Tokio into action, with Dylan Hill and Dave McComas leading the chase and eventually reeling in Oliviera shortly before Commissioners Hill, but as soon as they caught him in a classic counter attack, his Winners Edge team-mate Hopkins blasted off the front and using his undoubted climbing ability continued to pull away.

As Mayho and Curling passed through Police Headquarters with two laps remaining it became clear the Mayho was doing his best to keep a tiring Curling in the break, but Hopkins had closed within a minute and looked in control, and by the time the leaders reached Flatts Village they had company with the youngster bridging across on the descent.

At this point the rest of the field looked to be out of contention, when on Commissioners Hill, Mayho realising he needed to take charge, attacked Hopkins and pulled away as Curling clearly suffering, was forced to let them both go.

From this point onwards Mayho and Hopkins pulled further away, with Curling in survival mode as a chasing group including Oliviera, Hill, McComas, Deshi Smith, Anthony Bartley, Mark Robinson and last year’s winner Chequan Richardson hunted him down.

In the end Mayho crossed the line in 1hr 38min 48sec, with Hopkins second in 1:37:48 and Curling managing to just hold off the fast closing chasers in 1:41:58.

In the 36 mile B race, two things were very clear by the finish of the sixth lap race.

Firstly, Allysa Rowse, the FFBW rider, who turned 16 on the same day as Hopkins, has sent a clear message to her male counterparts that she is a force to be reckoned with, only being edged out of her first win by .046 of a second.

Secondly, the top three finishers are all coming off strong mountain bike seasons, with Revelin Minihane, also FFBW taking victory at the end, and mountain bike series winner Adam Kirk in his first road race and for Winners Edge, third in a closely contested sprint.

Chris Roque attacked on Middle Road on the first lap and stayed away until he hit the headwind on North Shore Road when the main field pulled him back. After a number of attempts to break away it was not until the fourth lap that Mark Wilcox got a meaningful gap, but even he succumbed to the strong headwind on North Shore and was reeled in.

On the final lap, having climbed Commissioners Hill for the last time, Minihane and Rowse looked the strongest as they appeared to ease off the front of a tiring field.

It was a refreshing sight in the women’s field with a number of new riders on the start line. Ashley Estwanik, who raced in last year’s President’s Cup Road Race, was one of a number of new faces and it soon become apparent that her athletic abilities would include racing a bicycle.

After a strong pace from the start, Estwanik and triathlete Karen Smith broke away from the field, but Smith was not able to hold on and Estwanik pulled away from her eventually riding to an impressive solo victory.

Smith rode alone for two laps but was eventually caught on Palmetto Road by the chasing field, with Martina Olcheski-Bell beating out Kristen Palmer for second.

It was a charge of the juniors in the four lap 24 mile Adult C race.

After a long breakaway containing Ben Edwards, Tim Miller, and Ziani Burgesson, Miller eventually dropped off the pace leaving the other two to battle for honours. Edwards took the win in a hotly contested sprint for the line by a mere .049 of a second. Kion Richardson finished third.

In the two junior races, Caleb Ingham won the A race ahead of Alex Southern and Enshe-Nico Davis in their 18-mile event. Blake Oliviera was a clear winner in the B race with Manning Smith and Megan Hands rounding out the top three as they completed their six mile race.