EDER FRAYRE is the overall leader of the 2024 Tobago International Cycling Classic (TICC) after he easily kept the yellow jersey in winning the second stage in a row of the five-stage tour, yesterday.
The defending champion outlasted his opponents to cross the line first in yesterday’s 100-kilometre 10-lap Farm Road, Shaw Park, Scarborough circuit from 8am.
GOLDEN XAVI: Suriname’s Xavi Wadilie (Heatwave) celebrates after winning the second division category in stage 2 of the Tobago International Cycling Classic, yesterday.
Frayre claimed the win in the opening stage on Wednesday, and his performance yesterday solidified his lead in the Tobago event.
For this stage of the event, billed as “Pedalling in Paradise”, Frayre was timed in two hours,nine minutes, 40.78 seconds as he sprinted away from American professional cyclist Andrew Scarano, who was timed in 2:09.44.57.
The Net6herlands’ Delano Swenne finished the stage in third in 2:14:25.05. Scarano’s countryman Caleb Langrebe was fourth in 2:14:25.22 while Colombia’s Mateo Garcia was fifth in 2:14:25.28.
Frayre overcame some challenges to pull off the win in stage two.
“It was a complicated race. Only rainy and technical, you couldn’t see anything. The other teams played a good card sending their racers to the front so I had to chase a lot. But I was able to bring them back because I had some help from the team (Heatwave). It was a good day. I managed to bridge the gap and jump and jump again and get to the other guy and I beat him in the sprint (to the finish),” said Frayre. “Tomorrow everything changes because it’s more like criteriums. It’s more like for sprinters and fast guys but we have some American sprinters and we race crits (criteriums) a lot so they will be probably there for us, and we have an advantage and we want to keep that advantage.”
After TICC organisers facilitated a two-hour “Classic Lime & Relax” event at the Cycling Village Compound at the Crown Point Hotel last evening–it featured steelband and local entertainers for the participating cyclists and specially-invited guests–cyclists resume racing today in stage 3, a 50-lap 50-kilometre criterium that will favour the sprinters around the one-kilometre circuit in Plymouth Village.