Dominique Mayho, Bermuda’s top cyclist, stepped up his preparations for the Caribbean Championships with a ninth-place finish at the Pensacola Classic in Florida at the weekend.

Mayho, who represented Bermuda at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, was one of four Island riders competing at the three-stage event, held over two days, including a time-trial, road race and criterium.

The 20-year-old, racing in the men’s Pro 1-2 category, finished sixteenth in the time-trial, finishing in 7min 7sec, fourth in the road race — his favourite event — posting a time of 2hr 59min 18sec, and fourth in the criterium in 59 minutes flat. His overall time was 4:05:25.

Mayho, who won the inaugural Presidents Cup race last month, said that his performance had filled him with confidence going into next month’s championships in Puerto Rico.

“I was pleased with my performance; I finished higher than I thought I was going to,” he said. “I felt really good once the race started and was very pleased overall.

“I’ve been training a lot to get fit for the Caribbean Championships. I would really like to finish in the top ten and stay with the big guns.”

Darren Glasford, who served as the Bermuda cycling team’s manager in Glasgow, came 26th in the same category, with an overall time of 4:16:11.

Glasford finished 34th in the time-trial in 7:52, 29th in the road race in 3:09:09, and 25th in the criterium with a time of 59:10.

Steven Perezluha, representing Seasucker/Guttenplan Coaching, won the men’s Pro 1-2 category in an overall time of 3:59:32.

In the men’s category 3, Mark Hatherley finished fourteenth out of seventeen riders with an overall time of 2:58:19.

Hatherley came seventeenth in the time-trial in 8:04, sixth in the road race in 2:05:28, and eighth in the criterium in a time of 44:47.

The category was won by Samuel Barnagaud, of Interactive Metronome Development Cycling, in an overall time of 2:55:07.

Zoenique Williams, Bermuda’s only women’s rider competing at the classic, placed second out of four competitors in the women’s category 3, with an overall time of 3:03:12.

She finished the time-trial in fourth in 8:52, the road race in second in 2:24:06, and the criterium in first in 30:20.

Heidi Thompson won the division in an overall time of 3:01:10.

The Caribbean Championships will be held from October 11 and 12. Mayho will then compete at the Central American and Caribbean Games in Veracruz, Mexico, from November 14 to 30.