135 cyclists sign up for M and M Tour of Belize
James Adderley was working overtime today as this afternoon he also began his official coverage of the M and M Engineering Cycling Tour of Belize.
James Adderley, Reporting
The M and M Tour of Belize has simply had a meteoric rise in a scant four years. And people you better Belize it, the fifth running of this nine stage tour that covers five hundred and ninety-two miles this time around, has captured the entire nation as it gets ready to blast off tomorrow morning at Sugar City.
The presentation ceremony at Bruce’s Cycling Club bubbled with electricity as most of the fifteen teams participating showed up in full gear as the countdown to tomorrow’s ten a.m. start continues.
Among those gunning for the big time is the Roaring Creek Cycling Team led by young Frederick Banner.
Frederick Banner, Roaring Creek Cycling
“This is gonna be the first time because this is a young upcoming team and it’s gonna be the first time.”
James Adderley
“Tell us about this very young team from Roaring Creek.”
Frederick Banner
“It’s a young team just come up about three months ago, but we are training together about a month, month and change. I think we have a good chance in this competition that we are gonna ride.”
Now meet the National Team of Guatemala and they have recruited all their top riders for this particular event. And you better accept the fact that they will impact this outing.
HINCAPIE Dasani, an American Unit with young Badillo as its only local rider, sent Shane Weaver to drop this message on the crowd.
Shane Weaver, HINCAPIE Dasani
“Well we are definitely going to get some guys in the top ten G.C., that’s our main goal, so we wanna win stages and go for the overall G.C.”
James Adderley
“You were here for the tour last year. That experience, will it be able to propel you to a better performance, a better finish for HINCAPIE?
Shane Weaver
“Yeah, I believe so. Last year we also race and helped support some Belizeans team, now it’s a little bit different scenario, we’re riding just for the HINCAPIE squad and there’s a lot of different teams, a lot more strength I would say that’s coming to the tour, so the dynamics of the race should change.”
Of course folks, you do how the C-Ray Cycling team featured the Choto brothers, Roger Trojer, and Guatemalan Juan Manuel Yapur.
Then there’s a new American crowd in town called Alliance Environmental making their first appearance in Belizean cycling. Bill Short stepped out to be their spokesman.
Bill Short, Alliance Environmental
“Our expectation, we would like to win a stage, maybe take a jersey. We have some guys who can really go fast, the sprint. We have some guys that can go up hills pretty well as well.”
James Adderley
“Well you’ve always gotta have a hitman and you always gotta have domestiques. You wanna take us into that scenario?”
Bill Short
“We kinda have a plan for tomorrow where we’d to actually take the stage win. I am the sprinter of the team, so we’ll have the team lined up in front, hopefully coming in with a few miles to go and see what we can do.”
In the meantime, the Sun Digital Photo team is a totally foreign unit featuring former cross country champion Bill Elliston from the United States and Jamaican American Tony Taylor. And they do believe they can go all the way.
Bill Elliston, Sun Digital Photo
“Last year we took the tour pretty serious. We came down to try and win it, had a little bad luck here and there, but overall, I was personally pretty happy with my performance. But definitely we had a little bit milder winter at home in Pennsylvania, so definitely put a little more time on the bike, a little more focus training, and I think it’s safe to say, our team is definitely built to try and win the race this year.”
James Adderley
“Tell us a little bit about your team, the features, the specialists et cetera.”
Bill Elliston
“There is three of us that are here from the Rite Aid Pro Cycling Team, a Philadelphia, Pennsylvania based pro team: Mike Norton, myself, and Ryan Dewald. And then we have a bunch of guys from a young under twenty-five developmental team out in New York City, who are despite their youth, very talented kids. A lot of them have raced the national team in Europe and have done well in races of this style. So they know what to expect, we’ve prepared them, we’ve told them what to expect, and what their best route for preparation is and I think we’re all on the same page. We have a pretty well rounded team. We’ve got some guys who can climb, guys who can pace, guys who can sprint.”
Now if you’re asking about the defending champion, Santino’s AEG Toshiba, which features the mighty champ Marlon Castillo … Well, they snubbed the presentation, but that doesn’t change the fact they’re the team to watch going in.
So the countdown continues to ten a.m. tomorrow. If you’re into sports, the nine-stage M and M Engineering Cycling Tour is a must see, so stay tuned. How can you choose the best from amongst many, stay tuned to Channel 5. this is James Adderley, reporting for News Five.
