Dominique Mayho fell short of his goal of completing the under-23 road race at the UCI Road World Cycling Championships in Richmond, Virginia yesterday.

Competing against some of the world’s elite cyclists in his age group, Bermuda’s top cyclist was pulled at the halfway stage of the 100 mile race as he was caught behind a crash on one of the three steep climbs and had to run up the cobbled road before remounting.

Mayho was sitting fairly comfortably towards the back of the peloton until he was separated from the pack.

“I felt good until I had to get off because of the crash ahead of me,” Mayho said. “I probably wasn’t going to last with the peloton until the end, but it was still a good experience.”

Mayho qualified for the event by virtue of his continental ranking, which had him 55th by the August 15 cut-off date, and is the first Bermuda cyclist to take part in the under-23 event since Tyler Butterfield in 2005.

The multiple Sinclair Packwood Memorial Race winner is due back on Island today.

With the UCI Road World Cycling Championships behind him, Mayho has now set his sights on defending his title at tomorrow’s National Criterium Championship in Hamilton.

“I’m looking forward to being home to race the criterium championship on Sunday in Hamilton,” he said.