Cycling: Tour of Praslin-Mathieu bounces back to win tour in style |16 August 2006

Mathieu triumphed comfortably with a lead of more than three minutes over his Mohan Shopping Centre (MSC) teammate Brian Sinon, who finished as runner-up.

Although his initial lead from the first stage, a 70-km road race, was a mere 20 seconds after winning in 2h26:08, Mathieu quickly killed off all competition during the second stage, winning the 39-km classical circuit race in 1h01:54 to increase his lead to 1:25 over Sinon and St Francis’ Jean-Pierre Low-Hong.

The third stage was a 9.8-km individual time trial and the MSC cyclist, an individual time-trial specialist, used this stage to destroy what little hope his opponents had left in their bids to stop him from winning the overall title.

He completed the distance in 13 minutes 40.72 seconds, 1 minute 15 seconds faster than his teammate Andrew Payet, who claimed second place with 14:56.26. Sinon again finished on the podium in third position with a time of 14: 59.34.

Mathieu won the tour with a convincing time of 3h41:42, 3:05 in front of Sinon. Low-Hong was third overall with 3h 44:24.

MSC were also the best team of the Tour, ahead of Velo Club de Mahe, St Francis and Cadets.

The Seychelles Cycling Association would like to thank Abhaye Valabhji, Baie Ste Anne district administration, Luc Grandcourt, Gerard Rose, Praslin Development Fund, Cat Cocos, Seychelles Police Traffic Department, Seychelles Broadcasting Corporation and Seychelles Nation for their support.

G. J.