White dominates Presidents Cup as he makes decision on future
Conor White destroyed Bermuda’s cyclists by winning the annual President’s Cup by a huge margin on Sunday morning.
White crossed the line more than five minutes clear of the field after breaking away from his rivals during the island-wide race and gave a good reminder of his talents as he begins to transition away from professional cycling.
After the race, the 26-year-old revealed he is unlikely to race full time for a team in Europe or the US next year as he begins to join the working ranks in Bermuda and he is happy with his decision.
“I turn 27 in two weeks and I know I'm not going to go professional any more,” White said.
“Having a go on the track and trying to make the Olympics was my last dig at something but that’s pretty much an impossible route to go with just one person riding the track from Bermuda.
“I’ve been doing this for six years now and it’s been great. I’ve been to so many great places and I’m still planning on going to more. The only thing that’s really going to be different is instead of being based in London and racing for a team there next year, I'll be based here and fly to races.
“I won't be racing as much but I’ll be doing more specific races that qualify me for events and more focused training on certain races.
“I still plan on hopefully qualifying for the Pan Am Games next year but most of that is going to be on the track. That helps in the training because the longest race on the track is only 45 minutes so it’s less volume, more intensity and more time in the gym, which will go well with my work schedule because I don’t have to go out and do four-hour rides every weekend.”
It was no surprise that White still had the legs to win on domestic soil. after all he won Bermuda’s first gold medal on the track in the Scratch Race at the Pan American Track Championships in Chile in February.
However, White did not feel he was in the shape to pull off such a dominant win in the race.
“It doesn’t feel like I’m in that good shape but I guess the legs must still be somewhat there,” White said.
“Since Commonwealth Games I’ve been not training as much as I have been in the past because I’m back on island now and I’ve started working.
“But it was a pretty attacking race from the gun and I knew I had to make it hard if I wanted any chance of getting away solo. With Nick Pilgrim, Dom [Dominique Mayho] and Harrison [Jones] in th race it had a stronger feel this year.
“I started the crucial attack on Crawl and no one chased, so I got a little gap and after a bit of a break I was able to settle into a really hard pace for the first 20 minutes to try and establish a gap.
“Going over Trimingham, Hill, I couldn’t see them so I knew the gap must have been over a minute and I just settled into a pace that I knew I could hold for the next hour. I was also able to see them coming out of Duckyard, so I knew I had a really big gap.
“At that point, knowing how big of a gap I had, it’s hard to keep pushing at the same pace because you know that they’re not going to get you. It was definitely a longer solo effort than I was planning but you’ve got to take the move when it comes and try and get away.”
Panzy Olander beat Annabelle Miller to win the women’s race, while Dylan Eiselt produced a good ride to finish sixth overall and win the Junior Men’s Race, with Jonah MacGuinness finishing second.
1 Conor White 2:15:15
2 Alexander Miller 2:20:52
3 Harrison Jones 2:20:57
4 Dominique Mayho 2:21:42
5 Matt Boys 2:21:57
6 Dylan Eiselt 2:21:59
7 Forrest Chris Nusum 2:23:10
8 Jonah MacGuinness Same time
9 Steven Smith 2:23:12
10 Nicholas Pilgrim 2:23:27
11 Che'Quan Richardson 2:24:44
12 Brian Drea 2:23:52
13 Panzy Olander 2:24:00
14 Phil Mace 2:24:02
15 Adam Harbutt 2:26:02
16 Darren Glasford Same time
17 Ricky Smith 2:28:57
18 Neil MacGuinness Same time
19 Stephen Ryan Same time
20 Kavin Smith Same time
21 Matthew Kenny Same time
22 Raffi Titizian 2:29:35
23 Clifford Roberts Same time
24 Annabelle Miller Same time
25 Alex Waldauer Same time
26 Andrew Charlesworth Same time
27 Tyler Same time
28 Kian Wookey Same time
29 Jonah Jones Same time
30 Jeremy Shrubb 2:32:29
31 Howard Williams2:32:41
32 Henry Paddison 2:46:13
DNF Jens Drea
DNF Kaleb Harris
DNF Mark Hatherley
DNF Jasper Lau
DNF Paulo Medeiros
DNF Frank Ming
DNF Mark Robinson
