David McComas of Team Tokio and Zoenique of Winners Edge won their first Butterfield Bermuda Grand Prix titles yesterday as they held on to their leads in the Men’s A and Women’s categories during the criterium in Hamilton.

McComas and Williams both made their move in the three-stage event by winning the road race in Southside on Saturday, leads they maintained with good performances under perfect racing conditions yesterday morning.

McComas finished the criterium in 1hr 2min 33sec for a three-stage time of 2:45:17, three seconds ahead of second-place finisher Darren Glasford, while Shannon Lawrence, last year’s winner, finished third in 2:45:23.

“I think it was fantastic, what really sealed the victory for the overall title was how the team worked on stage two, the road race,” McComas, who was quick to give credit to his team-mates who include Lawrence, said

“It was a difficult race with lots of attacks and the team rode brilliantly, it was a real pleasure to work with them. This is not an easy criterium, you’ve got the uphill on Burnaby and it doesn’t stop until you get on the stretch on the back [Reid Street].

“I’m extremely pleased, I put in a lot of work to get to this point, lost over 30lbs since last year, and it was a real pleasure to participate, number one, and to do well, number two. The weather cooperated, the forecast was not for this beautiful weather so it was great that we can have this Butterfield-sponsored event with such great weather.”

Lawrence was upbeat despite relinquishing his title.

“That’s what it’s about, putting it together to make sure the team got a good win,” he said. “I’m just very happy that the team came together and got a good result.

“Everybody was looking at me, thinking I’m riding in a certain way, but in return it left it open for my team-mate who did a good job and I’m very pleased.”

Williams followed up her third-place finish in the time-trial on Friday with victory in the road race on Saturday and the criterium yesterday for a total time of 1:37:05, five seconds ahead of Karen Bordage of Tokio, with Sarah Bonnett of Madison Digicel finishing third in 1:37:11.

“Grand Prix is different, I was three seconds behind but what is three seconds, really, when in the road race you get lap bonuses,” Williams, who recorded her first victory in only her third year of competitive racing, said.

“I just knew that I had to take the lap bonuses and had to win the road race and the criterium today.

“My team-mate, Karen Smith, put in a perfect attack on the last lap on Front Street where everybody had to jump on her wheel and then I attacked in the corner and got away and when I looked back they were still behind her so I just kept going and took it home.

“It was a nice fun event and I enjoyed it overall. This is my first Grand-Prix title, I wasn’t here last year and the year before that was my first year of racing.”

Kaden Hopkins, the 15-year-old son of well-known cyclist Greg Hopkins, raced to an impressive victory in the Men’s B criterium which earned him the overall title in a time of 2:06:03, with Manuel Lonfat second in 2:06:36 and Rajul Matthie-Shakir third in 2:06:38.

“I was five seconds back after yesterday and didn’t win any of the time bonuses, so I was pretty far back, but today I won the time bonus for the half time and the time bonus for the finish and had a 38-second lead,” Hopkins said.

Hopkins was in third place behind Matthie-Shakir and Lonfat going into yesterday’s criterium but rode a smart tactical race, with the help of team-mates, to clinch the victory.

‘I am very happy with how I rode today, I felt strong but didn’t know the break was going to come that early in the race,” he said.

“I had Manuel close behind me for a while.”

The weekend started perfectly for Hopkins’s Winners Edge team-mate, Rico Smith, who recorded the fastest time in the hill climb, 47 seconds. He had a setback in Saturday’s road race and yesterday worked to keep Hopkins in contention for the overall title.

“On Saturday I ended up getting a flat on the last lap and wasn’t there for the sprint to keep up my overall standing,” the 19-year-old said.

“Today I was pretty much out of it and rode for Kaden, just helping him get a break and controlling the front for as long as I could, and taking second in the halfway time bonus so the two people behind him couldn’t catch him up.”