Colombia's Duban Enrique Figueredo denied Trinidad and Tobago's US-based cyclist Emile Abraham his second consecutive stage win when he captured Saturday's fourth stage of the Tour of Trinidad and Tobago.
Titled the Laurie Rogers Stage, the grueling 81 kilometre ride began outside the Eric Williams Financial Complex in Port of Spain and took the riders along the Churchill Roosevelt Highway through the eastern communities of Curepe, Arima and Valencia to the finish just outside the National Petroleum Service Station in Cumana.
A bit of confusion reigned among the leaders as to the exact location of the finish and in the ensuing uncertainty, the Cycling Team Krieger rider took the jump on the pack to snatch victory in two hours, one minute: 13.60 seconds.
Abraham, riding for Rosetti Devo and looking for his second win after capturing Friday's third stage at the Queen's Park Savannah, had to settle for second place in 2:01:17.10, as he led a group of 15 riders who were all credited with the same time.
Rounding out the top three was Team Foundation's Raphael Merane.
The race got off to a bright start in sunny conditions, and an attack was initiated as early as the Barataria Overpass by Cycling Team Krieger's Edwin Vanegas and Adam Bright of Primal Europe.
The duo worked in tandem to open a 30-second advantage on the main bunch but their lead was slowly whittled away as the peloton caught up with them approaching Mausica.
The second attack came at The Pillars in Santa Rosa as Team Cocos' Frank Travieso and Phillip Schulz of Germany's UR-Krostitzer Univega pedaled their way to a 20-seconds gap, with the main bunch content to sit back, biding its time.
A light drizzle greeted the riders as they approached the North Oropouche power station in Valencia and the chasing pack used this opportunity to narrow the distance held by the leading two. And by the time the race entered Mathura, Armando Zamudi of Cycling Team Krieger and Primal Europe's Tom Stockdale had caught up with Travieso and Schulz, with the peloton breathing down their necks a mere five seconds behind.
The ride through Salybia saw teams working feverishly to contain any attacks as they quickly countered moves by their rivals. However, in the final three kilometres the peloton split into two distinct bunches with the rest of the field trailing behind in Indian file.
The 16-man strong leading group containing Abraham, Figueredo and Merane opened a 10-seconds gap on the second bunch, which held Team Foundation's Joshua Alexander and three of Abraham's Rosetti Devo teammates in Gevan Samuel, Phil Gaimon and Jean Michel Lechance.
This advantage would be maintained as the first 16 riders came home some 12 seconds ahead of the chasing pack
Abraham retained his overall leader's yellow jersey with a five-second edge over Merane while Figueredo moved up 23 places in the standing to be in 17th position overall.
By Donstan Bonn
Source: www.trinidadexpress.com