Kaden Hopkins wins stage, Nicholas Narraway crashes and Conor White wins leg of ham
Professional cycling can be filled with thrills and spills and Bermudian riders experienced both sides of the coin at the weekend.
Kaden Hopkins appeared on the top step of the podium after his Vendée U Team won the team time-trial on the third stage of the Plages Vendéenes in France, while Nicholas Narraway crashed on the second stage of the Valley of the Sun in Phoenix, Arizona.
Hopkins’ team were forced to overcome communications issues to win the team time-trial after their earpieces, which link the riders to their team car, failed early and sports director Steven Laurent was thrilled that his cyclists were able to regulate their own performance.
“They told me that they hadn’t heard me at all,” Laurent told DirectVelo.
“It’s even more telling for them as it means that they have self-regulated. I was yelling into the microphone but for nothing.”
Vendée U completed the 45.6 kilometres loop around Beauvoir-sur-Mer in 53min 02.51sec, 35 seconds ahead of Paris Cyclist Olympique and 1min 20sec ahead of third-placed Cre’Actuel MArie Morin.
Hopkins started the final stage on Sunday but withdrew as a result of sickness after about 40km of the 145km race. The illness has forced Hopkins to amend his race schedule and he will now miss next week’s races and is on his way back to Spain for 11 days to recover and get healthy.
Narraway crashed out on the second stage of the three-day Valley Of The Sun in Arizona.
The young Bermudian, competing for team California, suffered a bad gash to his thigh after coming down on the stage at Casa Grande, eventually finishing 76th and more than six minutes behind the stage winner Brody McDonald.
A day earlier, Narraway had finished a decent twelth in the Landis Time Trial, finishing 39 seconds off the time set by Joshua Lebo.
Conor White has been taking in some local races in Spain while participating in a month-long training camp and he won a leg of ham after picking up one of the intermediate sprints in the Social Casa.
White finished second overall as he works towards his first race of the season in the United States at the start of next month.
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