Dominique Mayho held off a strong challenge from Alexander Miller and Conor White to power his way to a ninth National Criterium Championship at Southside, St David’s, on Sunday.

Mayho, absent last year when Matt Boys won, returned to win a thrilling sprint finish against Miller and White, completing 24 laps in 43min 55sec.

“It was great for me to win my ninth national criterium title as it was my first time racing in a while,” Mayho told The Royal Gazette.

“We have a young son now and unfortunately he wasn’t there to see me win again, but I’m hoping to stay fit enough so he can see me once more. The last couple of years have been rough for me as I’ve been up and down with training.

“I’ve switched around a couple times just to stay fit and recently I decided to go to the Caribbean Championships with the Bermuda team to try to help the guys deliver a medal and we were successful in doing that.

“The fitness that I got from that carried over to this race and I was able to take the win.”

After Miller and White tested him with a couple of attacks, Mayho timed his sprint to cross the line first.

“Sprinting is definitely what I’m best at in cycling and when I was racing full-time I was a sprinter for my teams,” the 33-year-old said.

“Conor is so much stronger than us because he’s been racing full-time. Zander and I both knew that no matter what we do, Conor’s going to be able to pull us back, but we did have a shot against him if it comes down to a sprint.

“So he was trying to attack us and get off the front solo, but on this course it was hard for him to do that because the wind direction wasn’t great for attacking.

“It was a bit easier for us to jump on his wheel than normal. If we’re racing Conor in a longer road race, he’s just going to be so much stronger and beat us eventually. These types of races are super short so if you can hang on a bit, you can actually take it to a sprint and that’s what I did.”

Despite opening up a substantial lead at one stage, Miller had to settle for second.

“I I tried my best and did well,” the 23-year-old said. “I knew that when it comes to a sprint, there’s not too many people that can beat Dominique when he’s feeling good.

“I managed to get off the front and put the power down to see how much of a gap I could get.

“I didn’t put all my eggs in one basket knowing that Conor is as strong and he pulled me back. It was back to the group to try something different.”

White relished being out on the road while some of his Bermuda team-mates are enjoying the off-season.

“It was fun to be racing again even though our season’s ended,” he said.

“When there’s six of us in a race, there’s only so much you can do. I tried to attack and get away, but it didn’t work out.

“I knew if I made it to the last corner first I had a chance. Dominique jumped us and once he got that gap, it was hard to catch him.”

Panzy Olander won the women's title, completing 21 laps in 40:34, with Annabelle Miller finishing as runner-up.

“I love this race and I'm always proud to take the jersey,” Olander said.

“I was mostly doing it because I want women to come out and participate. I would have hated to see no female participants.

“Annabelle’s just coming back to cycling and it was so nice to see another woman out racing. She’s a super strong cyclist, so I expect she’ll be back for next season really strong.

“It was fun racing with the masters men because they really put in a big kick. Their strategy was a little different, so I disassociated a little bit in the race and didn’t realise where I was.

“I was expecting one of my team-mates and another guy off the front, but they were actually behind me, so it was cool to come third in the race.

“It was a nice little plus for this year to finish off the road racing season because I had technically gone off-season after the Caribbean Championships.”

Mark Hatherley took masters men honours after edging Clifford Roberts in a photo finish.

“I’m happy that I won because I’ve been laid off for a couple of years,” the 51-year-old said.

“I just came back out to start riding again so I wasn’t really riding to win. I entered the race to have fun and help my team, but I said if I’m there and I have a chance, I’m going to do my best to try to represent Winners Edge.

“It was a close race and I had a slight feeling I had edged him, but you don’t want to get excited before you get the confirmation.”

In the junior men’s race, Dylan Eiselt produced a dominant ride to win his first title with Jacob Wright and Jens Drea rounding out the podium.

“I’m very happy that I won,” Eiselt said.

“I trained really hard for the triathlon and so the training for the triathlon paid off. I visualised this all week.

“I just rode with everyone for about 12 minutes of the half an hour. I then decided to go for it and see what happens.

“Jacob Wright and Jens Drea were closing in, so I pushed it up a little bit and then I saw that Jens had gone and I knew it was between Jacob and I.

“Whoever’s stronger was going to win and I told myself that I’m the stronger, then pulled away.”

Kelise Wade, the lone female entrant in the junior race, finished 13 laps in 30:39.

“I just wanted to come out and race for the girls,” Wade said.

“I realised that as we get older, a lot of girls are dropping out, so I want people to know there are still females out racing.

“The overall race was great and it was nice racing against the boys. I enjoy the short races mainly because we race for time and not for distance.

“It’s also safe in these races compared to road races and time-trials on the main roads. Because it’s nice and small, it feels like there are more people cheering for us.”

Racing started with the under-12 boys race, in which Austen Carr took the win ahead of Isaac Wookey in second and Lukas Eiselt third.

With 28 participants in total, race director Peter Dunne was satisfied with the numbers.

“If we had more people, it just wouldn’t have affected the podium,” Dunne said.

“Overall, this location is perfect for us. The roads are really nice and we’re able to control the race to keep it safe for the competitors.”