Dominique Mayho blew away the field to retain his title emphatically in the Presidents Cup Road Race yesterday.

The top cyclist executed his game plan to perfection, taking the lead for good around the 57-mile mark in the 62-mile race and extending it before crossing the finish line in 2hr 36min 34.488sec, nearly a minute ahead of second- placed David McComas.

“My plan was to try and get a break off the front early and then bridge across late into the race and it kind of worked out how I wanted,” Mayho said.

Mayho rode conservatively during the early stages of the race tucked behind the leaders in the peloton before shifting into high gear after 17 miles.

Following a series of attacks the battle for top honours became a two-horse race around between Mayho and McComas, who finished in 2:37:05.891.

The two men stayed together until Mayho finally made his move near Five Star Island and all but won the race five miles from the finish line.

“It’s always good to defend your title,” Mayho said. “And to come back and have everything go the way I wanted it to go was really good.”

Darren Glasford rounded off the podium in third in a time of 2:41:40.664.

This year a new champion was crowned in the women’s category with Karen Smith comfortably seizing Nicole Mitchell’s vacant title — albeit with a broken spoke in her back wheel.

Smith, who was 37th overall, finished in a time of 3:03:05.749, some six minutes ahead of Wenda Roberts and Ashley Estwanik.

“I was a little bit worried about how that was going to turn out,” said Smith of her pre-race mechanical issues. “I didn’t have a spare wheel or anything so the mechanics just tried to open up the brakes a little bit because the wheel was a bit wobbly.

“They told me to try and ride but don’t brake, which was a little bit scary for me because I didn’t have full ability to brake, so I was a bit nervous for the first ten miles.”

Smith took the lead in her category around the tenth mile and never looked back.

“It definitely wasn’t a solo effort,” Smith said.

“A lot of people shared the work today, and I just ended up in the right place at the right time and I am pretty pleased.”

Roberts was second in 3:09:22.640 with Estwanik, the multiple Bermuda Day Half Marathon winner, rounding off the podium in third in 3:09:24.177.

Matthew Oliveira won the junior title and was fifth overall, finishing in a time of 2:41:42.826, closely followed by Dylan Hill in 2:41:42.834 and Kaden Hopkins, who was third, in 2:41:43.775.