Melanie Claude tuned up for this week's CD&P Grand Prix by showing the men just who's boss.

Claude took the honours at Bermuda Bicycle Association's club event at Clearwater over the weekend, a victory that not only came just in time for the Island's premier cycling event but also just a month before she and Bermuda team-mate Julie Hawley aim for Commonwealth Games qualification.

The pair will head for Aruba in October in the hope of matching the time trial qualification mark for the Games which are to be held in Manchester, England next year.

On Sunday there was no Greg Hopkins or Kent Richardson and usual frontrunner Steve Millington suffered a puncture, but even so it was a notable achievement by Claude over the 48-mile event.

"It was good because it was the last race for our points series," said Claude. "I wasn't going in there with the expectation of winning but with Steve having a flat and Greg and Kent not being there it put me in contention.

"The conditions were pretty favourable. It wasn't too windy a day so we couldn't drop as many as we would have wanted. Basically it was a given midway through the race that no one was going to get away and it was going to end up being a sprint finish.

"I was just mentally preparing myself for that."

Andy King led the group from the beginning of the causeway along Clearwater Beach.

"He sort of triggered it off and I fought to jump on his wheel," said Claude. "I think he stayed a little too long on the sprint and he sort of died and I passed him.

"I thought I had it and then all of a sudden Mike Lee went past me and I had to jump on his wheel. It was then just a few feet to the finish line and I pulled out from behind him and sprinted to the front, winning by just a bike length."

The result put Claude third overall in the Category Two standings.

"Compared to last year I think I was sixth or seventh so it's a great accomplishment," she said. "It's good because I never expected, going into the men's category, to even be in contention."

Claude said she felt her rivals took her victory in good heart.

"By now both Julia and I have ridden enough with these men that they now think of us as one of the boys. I think maybe there is a little bit of ego, but generally I think they have accepted us and look at us as cyclists and not women."

Claude said she was pleased with her performances throughout the year.

"I had a very good race in China (at the World B Championships) and I think to have a good race like I did on Sunday is quite a morale booster with the Grand Prix coming up."

Claude said she expected the competition to be tough when the event gets underway.

"I'm not sure of the total number of pro females who are coming down but we have a good number," she said. "They are of a good calibre and I am not expecting to be up in the top rankings. I am just going to go through each day as it comes."

Claude said both she and Hawley had to look ahead to the event in the Caribbean and not expend too much energy in their homeland.

"It's been a long season for both Julia and I and it's hard to say how much we have left in our legs and the other thing is we have our eye on the time trial event at the end of October," she said. "That is a little more important because it might be an opportunity for us to try and qualify for the Commonwealth Games.

"Our focus is probably more towards that than the Grand Prix."

The pair need to complete a 40k route at just under 25 mph to meet the criteria.

"The event in Aruba would meet that standard so now it's just a question of us being able to do it," Claude said. "If we could do well in the time trial leg then that's one area that we don't have to concentrate as much on and we can then focus on the road race and qualify in that for the Commonwealth Games."

Claude said it would mean a great deal for her to represent the Island in Manchester.

"That is one of Julia and I's goals. I look at the Commonwealth Games as being just the same as the Olympics, just with less people," she said. "It's like a mini-Olympics for me and would be an achievement and at the age that I am at, it would be great."