Garth Thomson showed that his biking experience in the mountains of British Columbia will make him the man to beat this season as he cruised to victory in the second race of the new programme on a blustery day at Admiralty House Park on Sunday.

Neil de St Croix and Andrew Davis had to be content to battle for second and third as the Canadian proved too strong for the field on a hilly and technical course.

De St Croix led the race out fast from the start, grabbing a big advantage by the time he reached the tight bottleneck at the half-way point on the course with Davis getting trapped behind slower riders, causing him to play catch-up for much of the race.

But Thomson caught De St Croix by the third lap and slowly widened the gap over the final five laps to finish in a time of 36 minutes and 59 seconds.

Davis caught De St Croix by the fourth lap and the two traded places until a final sprint to the line which De St Croix won in a photo finish with both riders earning the same time, 37:42 - 42 seconds behind the winner.

First time racer, New Zealander Alan Reid took advantage of the absence of last week's third place finisher Greg Reid, to take fourth spot in 40:16 followed closely by Rolf Runkel who finished in 40:27 with Jean Bertrand in 40:55.

All the top-placed riders can thank a broken chain on Tyler Butterfield's bike which prevented him from being among the leaders at the finish as he ended up in 12th spot in a time of 47:52.

In the novices category, Dave Padega turned the tables on last week's winner Craig Eckman, winning in a time of 31:18 with Eckman finishing in 33:18 and first-time racer Darren Dowling holding down third spot in 36:30.

Jason Hansford-Smith was a little off the pace, placing fourth in 40:27.

Conner Burns took line honours in the boys' 15-16 category, making the most of the absence of last week's winner, Geoffrey Smith.

Burns covered the six laps in 46:14 and was followed by Matthew Godfrey who did well to finish in a time of 54:37 after suffering a gash on his shin early in the race. Tristan Loescher, the youngest competitor in the category, finished in 61:17.

In the veterans' division, Paulo Madeiros enjoyed his first outing of the new season with a good time of 35:25 despite the absence of any competition.

The 13-14 boys was again dominated by Tim Fox who finished in 31:03, followed by Geoffery Burns in 33:55, Thomas Godfrey in 35:21 and Max Tetlow a little further back in 36:12.

Caitlin Conyers had another good ride in the girls 13-14, finishing with a time of 36:49 over four laps but is still waiting for other junior females to offer some competition.

Michael Coles had his first win of the season after finishing second a week earlier. Coles won in the absence of Marc Smith and finished in 29:53. Brendon Doyle was second in 34:16 and Dominic White not far behind in third with a time of 36:37.

The next race on the schedule is Sunday, December 29 at Ferry Reach Park, St George's. Racers are asked to arrive by 8:30 a.m. for registration and a pre-race lap of the course. New riders are reminded that the worst three results of the season will be discarded and that entrants need to participate in only six races to be eligible for the series title.

Full results, see Scoreboard