Dominique Mayho says his sole objective at the Caribbean Cycling Championships in Havana, Cuba, this weekend will be helping Kaden Hopkins and Conor White win medals in the under-23 division.

Mayho, still the island’s most experienced rider, has taken a step back from competitive racing in recent years, preferring to concentrate on coaching team-mates such as Caitlin Conyers, Hopkins and White.

Rather than pursuing a top-ten finish in the elite road race, Mayho will instead use his experience to protect and advise Hopkins and White during their competition.

The elite men and under-23 road races will he held at the same time on the same course.

“I’ll be there more to help Kaden and Conor,” said Mayho, 25, who came seventh to secure his best finish at the championships in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, last year.

“I know I’m not fit enough to compete for the win in my category and having someone win the under-23 race is better than me coming tenth in the elite. I’ll be looking to help protect them for as long as I can.”

Mayho, who raced at the amateur level in Belgium for two years, believes Hopkins and White are both capable of podium finishes in Cuba, especially in the time-trial on Saturday.

“Kaden and Conor are both doing the [under-23] time-trial, so we will be able to see who is the stronger on Saturday,” Mayho said.

“We will have a team meeting on the Saturday to see who will protect during the race.”

By his own admission, Mayho is not in the best condition of his career, but believes he still has enough in the tank to deliver a respectable finish.

“I’ve been out of racing for so long that I don’t know what sort of level I’m at,” he admitted. “I feel decent and my training has been pretty good and if it comes down to a bunch sprint, I’m confident that I can do something.”

During Mayho’s peak there was an absence of quality team-mates to work alongside him during international events such as the Caribbean Championships.

It is the reason he has continued to compete for Bermuda, so to help the younger riders avoid making the same errors as he did.

“I never really had anyone [racing alongside me] that knew what they were doing to help me,” Mayho said.

“Tyler [Butterfield] had started doing triathlon again, so he wasn’t racing.

“I know how hard it is to go into a race and not really know what you’re doing. That’s one of the things I’d like to change and it’s probably the reason I’ve stayed in the sport, so I can help the guys coming along.

“Even if I’m not as strong, I can still tell the guys what to do and not what to do. Hopefully, they won’t make the silly mistakes that I made.”

Representing Bermuda in the women’s time-trial and road race will be Caitlin Conyers, who came second in the road race last year, and Gabriella Arnold, who won the under-23 road race.

The team will be managed by Peter Dunne, the Bermuda Bicycle Association president, and Darren Glasford, while Che’quan Richardson will serve as the mechanic.