In a race sprinkled with Olympic stardust, Conor White and Erica Hawley came out on top in the Presidents Cup cycling road race on Sunday morning.

White thundered home in blustery conditions to prevail in a sprint finish to the men’s race, narrowly beating Nic Narraway into second, with Hawley’s fellow Olympian, triathlete Tyler Smith third after being outgunned by the pros on the rush to the line.

The top three were some way clear of Kaden Hopkins in fourth with the Bermudians beating Australian Matt Boys, who finished fifth.

The win was the second in the Presidents Cup for White, who was always favourite to win if the race boiled down to a sprint.

“I knew if it came to a sprint that against these two I had the best odds, so I was just making sure it stayed together,” White said.

“Luckily Tyler did a really long lead out and when I wasn’t in front when the sprint started I knew I would probably take it.”

White had to do a lot of work to bridge across to Smith and Narraway, who broke clear on South Shore to fracture the race.

“It was really windy and on the way out to St David’s it was bad so nobody was really doing much, but coming out of Clearwater five of us got clear,” White said.

“There were a few attacks on South Shore and I got away for three minutes and then I got brought back. I don’t know how the guys did that as I was doing 500 watts, but then Tyler and Nic countered and Kaden and I were trying to call Matt’s bluff as he was not doing much in terms of attacking and pulling.

“Going up White Hill, Tyler and Nic probably got 30 seconds and Kaden sat up to get Matt to pull through and he didn’t, so I got a gap and Kaden didn’t want to chase me down until Matt pulled through.

“I was lucky to get away and bridged across to them heading into Dockyard, which was slow motion, but it was a fun race.”

Runner-up Narraway performed fantastically given that he was disadvantaged by the windy conditions and the course does not quite play to his climbing strengths.

“I was hoping Tyler and I would stay out to the finish but Conor bridged up and I didn’t really have much energy left at the end after all the wind hitting me,” Narraway said.

“I’m a small rider so it hits me harder than it hits them. The hills here are also not quite as long and steep as what would benefit me, but it levels the field a bit. However, windy conditions really benefit the heavier riders.”

Smith did well to cling to the wheels of Narraway and White for so long and even attempted to sprint to victory, even if his competitors in the sprint described it as “a lead out”.

“They call it a leadout but in my books that’s a sprint,” Smith said. “I don’t have the top end that these guys have so if ever I am going to have a chance I know I have to go early but these guys had put some damage into my legs over the course of the ride so there wasn’t much left to spend on the final sprint.

“I’m getting on the limit of how much longer I can keep up with these guys in a bike race. They always have me in the sprint but now it’s just hard for me to keep up in the majority of the race.”

Hopkins was left frustrated with fifth-placed Boys, who he felt was not working hard enough, but blamed his finishing position more on his physical condition than race tactics.

“I’ve only been back on the bike for a week and a half so I’m not in the best shape and I’m on a different bike, so I don’t feel comfortable on it yet,” Hopkins said.

“After about an hour, my back was uncomfortable and getting worse as the race went on. I just like to come out and do this race because Peter [Dunne, president of BBA] does so much for us and the race is in respect to him.

“It’s a nice race to wake the legs up but it was a fun day and we properly raced it. Sometimes when you race here everybody is timid, but we really raced it.”

The race fitted in nicely to women’s winner Hawley’s schedule while she is back on island and she was happy with her ride.

“It was really good to join these guys,” Hawley said.

”I was a bit worried yesterday, it was windy and rainy but it actually ended up being OK today. There was not too much rain and just the wind to deal with.

“I had to choose between this or the Friends of Sandys 5K but I’m doing a bike block right now and my coach felt it was best to do this one. I’m here for Christmas and it’s nice to see family but I’m still training really hard as my first triathlon races are in February, so things are heating up.”