In contrasting styles, Jonathan Page and Amy Jarvis emerged victorious in last night's Classic Criterium as the annual CD&P Grand Prix began on Front Street.

Page, an American, gave himself a belated birthday gift by edging out Canada's Tim Lefebvre in a gripping photo finish to take the 45-minute Male Elite event. Last year's winner, George Hincapie was just behind them in third - two hours after flying into Bermuda.

Earlier, 28-year-old Jarvis had pulled away in the final laps of the Female Elite race and held off a late-charging pack for a comfortable victory. It was deserved reward for the energetic pace-setting and front-riding tactics which she and team-mate Chloe Black employed throughout the half-hour race.

Bermuda's Melanie Claude gave the large home crowd gathered along Hamilton streets much to cheer about as she swept through to claim second. Unfortunately, her male compatriots did not fare as well with Kris Hedges' 29th place being the best showing of an Island threesome.

"It's a great accomplishment to beat some of the big names out here," declared Page, who turned 26 on Monday.

Sponsored by the Bermuda Department of Tourism, the New Hampshire native expressed surprise at having upstaged a top-quality field, including Hincapie, a team-mate of Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong in the US Postal team.

"This is big for me. I pushed hard early to get a premium (cash bonus for leaders in certain laps) for the team and then I sat back to recover. Luckily I was able to do so in time for the finish. It was tough out there and guys were moving hard," said Page who pipped Lefebvre by about the width of his front tyre's rubber.

The runner-up thought the race was equally rough and termed the city course "challenging". Coming second, the 34-year-old noted, "is like being the first loser" in the four-day meet but "it's still nice to be up there".

Jarvis, 28, was thrilled with her performance and saluted it as a team effort.

"My team-mate Chloe and I worked well together. She would go off the front and the other teams would chase her. So I could sit in and then as soon as she got caught I would go off. We switched places like that three or four times and I ended up being the one at the end who got away. It's a great evening for both of us," said the Toronto, Canada, resident who is representing Team Bacardi.

She, too, was puffing hard at the end and did not hide how much winning took its toll.

"I felt so tired. I was wheezing. I gave it my all tonight. It was a tough, fast race from the start."

Claude beamed widely as she coasted into the pit to a loud burst of applause.

"I am really ecstatic with my performance. I worked a lot on this race. I wasn't expecting to but the race was really hard from beginning to end. There were no breaks anywhere and I felt I had to be aggressive on this.

"Everyone was feeling the crunch of the hill but you had to give all you had and that's what I did and I am really pleased with my finish."

Asked if she was worried when Jarvis made her solo attack off the front with the bell in their ears, the 40-year-old said she was not bothered about the leader. She had settled on second.

Last year's overall women's winner said she would have to work out strategies with her team-mates for the rest of the Grand Prix events given the strong pro women's field.

Meanwhile, Hedges, riding for American team Snow Valley, said his mistake was to go for a flyer with two laps to go. This "burnt" his legs and he was a spent force by the end, finishing 29th. Instead, he noted, he should have tried that exploratory burst early and had time to recover for the finale.

"I think the pace caught a lot of guys off-guard. It was tough trying to stay up front but it was a great race," said the 22-year-old.