Cycling-Louis gets circuit race record |01 April 2009

In Saturday’s 10-lap 71km circuit race, sponsored by the Cascade district administration, Louis crossed the finish line, in front of the district’s community centre, first following a final sprint. His winning time was 1 hour 48 minutes 14 seconds (1h48:18) and as prize-money he collected R800 – R500 for first place finish and R300 for getting the record.

With an average speed of 39.396 kilometres per hour (km/h), Louis’ time is 2:18 faster than the previous record of 1h50:36 set by Roniel Fanny on April 23, 2005. On that day, Fanny decided to leave the peloton with four laps to go and he had enough fire in his legs to pedal alone to the finish line.

“I feel good,” Louis told Sports Nation.
“It wasn’t an easy race with many attacks coming from all over the place. But I weathered the storm to win. I’m looking forward for a good season as some cyclists, who did not race last year, have made their comeback.

Others are expected to do the same. It will be good for competition,” added Louis, who lost just one race locally last year and was Seychelles’ best rider at the 27th Michelin Tour de Maurice, finishing 35th out of 55.

Five other cyclists – runner-up Richard Felix, third place Graham Bristol, fourth place Ricky Rosalie, fifth place Edouard Pothin and sixth place Andy Rose – were credited with the same time of 1h48:18.

A seventh rider, Franky Baccus, did not complete the distance.
St Francis were the only complete team and their accumulative time of 5h24:54 has gone down as a record as it is much faster than the old best of 5h37:18 belonging to the old PLS Riders and set on April 23, 2005. The St Francis team averaged a speed of 39.396km/h on Saturday, while PLS Riders registered an average of 38.517km/h.