For many athletes finishing fourth at a major Games is the worst position to find yourself in.

Knowing that you have come agonisingly close to a medal can leave a mark and Bermudian cyclist Kaden Hopkins is dealing with his emotions just 24 hours after missing out on the podium in the time-trial at the Central American and Caribbean Games.

After nearly 50 minutes of lung-bursting riding in Dominican Republic, Hopkins lost out on the bronze medal by just three seconds, with that effort coming off the back of a disappointing injury-riddled season in Europe.

“It's definitely mixed emotions and after the year that I’ve had so far, it was nice to get a decent result, I suppose,” Hopkins said.

“The conditions here were just so brutal. It was so hot yesterday and for the first half of the event I felt pretty good, but then the heat started to get to me and it was pretty tough.

“I’m pretty sure the same thing happened to everybody because the two guys that were ahead of me on the podium were actually 30 or 40 seconds ahead of me at one point but also blew up.”

At elite level, small margins can make a huge difference to finishing position and Hopkins and Nicholas Narraway, who finished sixth in the same event, did not have the greatest race preparation.

“We only got to the village at 2am and then our bus the next morning to go and recon the course was supposed to be at 8am,” Hopkins said.

“We woke up at 7am to be ready and then we got a message in our group chat that the bus had left at 6am, so we had missed it.

“In cycling and especially in a time-trial, taking the right lines is so important in saving a few seconds here and there. That three seconds I lost by could have been lost on the first lap by taking a corner wrong and not taking the fastest line through one of the roads.”

National time-trial champion Narraway was disappointed to finish sixth as he had designs on bringing home a medal.

He was also affected by the stifling conditions, dropping from silver-medal position after two of the four laps to outside the top five when he crossed the line.

“I was really hoping for a medal here so it is a disappointing result,” Narraway said.

“But in cycling there are not a lot of highs but a lot of lows. You just get used to focusing on the next goal and forgetting about it in a way, but I am pretty disappointed with the day.

“I was doing pretty well in the first half of the race and going at a pace that I’ve done in earlier this year in similar conditions and in previous time-trials. It was something I felt like I could hold but the conditions and maybe some other stuff just all accumulated at the same time and it just hit me.

“he pace just really fell off after that and it was just a struggle getting to the finish after that.

Both Hopkins and Narraway are not competing in the road race at the CAC Games but are heading to the Caribbean for the Tour of Guadeloupe.

“It’s really exciting to be going to Guadeloupe and there are some really good stages that suit me,” Narraway said.

“There’s two time-trials and some really hilly stages, so there are a lot of good opportunities for me to feature and I’m looking forward to it.”