Their sponsor's name says it all - they had a “Victory Brewing” and yesterday Gina Grain, Lauren Franges, Sandy Espeseth and Brooke Ourada added the final ingredients to a successful weekend in the CD&P Bermuda Grand Prix.

Grain snagged top honours in the fourth and final stage of the meet - the Dockyard Criterium - while combining with the others to ensure their team-mate, Franges, maintained her hold on the yellow jersey to emerge overall elite women's champion.

Riding purposefully and keeping a watchful eye on rivals, particularly those from the RONA and Genesis teams, the Victory Brewing combination worked together throughout the 50-minute circuit race. Grain took the responsibility of winning the lion's share of time bonuses so opposing riders could not accumulate many bonuses to challenge Franges for the coveted GC (general classification) crown.

“We went into this race to protect our team's lead. We (Franges) had the yellow jersey. We wanted to make sure nobody got the time bonuses to have the possibility of moving ahead of her for the yellow jersey. That was our number one goal for the race so I had to sprint for the time bonuses to take time away from other people,” outlined Grain, adding that they also had to protect Franges in the pack to ensure she finished well.

“Bike racing is a chess game. It's often a race within a race. It's not often the first person who crosses the finish line who wins (overall). There's lots of other things going on and people try to test the GC leader.”

Once the team mission was accomplished, the 30-year-old Canadian pumped the pedals again for some more personal glory, flying around the final corner well ahead of the chasing pack and cruising into the limelight once more, having won Friday's time trial.

“I knew if it came down to a sprint that I knew how to win the race from inspecting the course in our warm-up.

“I knew that once I got to the final corner first I would win. You have to be first around that corner so my finish (line) was the corner,” said Grain straightforwardly.

Franges was thrilled to top the billing among so many world-class female cyclists.

“It's exciting. We had a rough start this week and we just wanted to bounce back. This is the last race of the season for most of us and we wanted to enjoy ourselves and there's no better way to finish. I'm very pleased,” said the 21-year-old from Pennsylvania, USA.

Sponsored locally by XL Capital, the quartet also placed second in the team standings behind Genesis.

Two American cyclists from the latter team - Laura Van Gilder and Kori Seehafer - finished second and third respectively in Dockyard.

“We're happy to get second and third. We would certainly have liked to win but what we did is great and we won the team GC (general classification) which is also great.

“This was a tough, technical course but a great venue,” said 39-year-old Van Gilder.

An elated Seehafer noted the scenic finale to the four-day spectacle was “definitely for the people who could handle their bikes because you saw the same people at the front all day”.

The Colorado native acknowledged her team was trying to set up Van Gilder for a Dockyard win but it didn't quite pan out.

“We were organising at the front with three (laps) to go - just to keep the pace steady and the tempo going - and then with one (lap) to go I think we needed to step it up a little more. I think our lead-out was too slow.

“Gina was just riskier and she was able to take the final corner at a higher speed. She was the one taking the chances and willing to put it all on the line,” conceded the 29-year-old.

Meanwhile, the lone Bermudian in the field, Lynn Patchett, was forced to withdraw after fracturing the pinky finger of her right hand in a crash towards the end of the race.