Cyclist returns from Cuba ready to ride
The National Sports Council has started a pilot programme in which cyclists travel to Havana to train amongst Cuba’s best. Quinton “The Baddest” Hamilton was the first athlete to enroll in the programme and has just returned from his six week intensive exercise. He says he’s more than ready to get back into competition.
Quinton “The Baddest” Hamilton, Cyclist
“It was a nice preparation for me for the training programme and the different sort of races that are going to be in Belize. I was also trying to ride Vuelta Cuba, but I also did a ten-day preparation race before I came to Belize. This ten-day preparation race was a classification race for Vuelta Cuba, and we had a little problem, they didn’t want me to ride because I didn’t have a team, so I returned home with preparation from a Cuban coach.”
Jose Sanchez
“How do you see this helping you in the race you’re facing this weekend?”
Quinton Hamilton
“Well, right now I’m riding very solid, much different from the New Year’s day race. As I told you already, I finished a ten-day race in Cuba with an A Class, B class and C class and fourteen different provinces from Cuba, with each team having seven teammates, which consists of one hundred and twenty-five cyclists I was racing in Cuba. I have a lot of power right now.”
Jose Sanchez
“Do you see any difference between the training in Belize and Cuba?”
Quinton Hamilton
“Well it’s very different because in Belize I was doing my own preparation, but now I’m doing it in Cuba more professionally.”
Hamilton will return to Cuba to continue his training next month, but plans to showcase some of what he’s learned in Sunday’s Valentines Classic.
