Belizeans go head to head with foreigners in M&M Tour

Good evening, I?m James Adderley and we invite you to sit back and enjoy this edition of Sports Monday. The mighty M and M Tour has gripped the nation after its monster start Saturday at Sugar City.

So we head to Orange Walk as seventy-one riders, representing ten teams, take off on the first leg of nine-stage cycling tour that totals five hundred and thirty-five miles while criss-crossing five districts in this nation. Stage one routes itself from Orange Walk to Corozal and back, which adds up to eight miles.

We catch up with the leaders at the turn-around point where Scottie Wies is the man on the pace, but Scotty misses the turn as most of the seventy-one in the hunt today learn from his mistake.

On the way back, this crew that includes Daniel Quetzal, Enrique Rodriguez, Jeffrey Zelaya, Domingo Lewis, Greg Lovell and Ernest Meighan tried to run, but they simply cannot execute.

However, the lead outside Orange Walk finds Mateo Cruz?the 2003 champion?cruising on a soft wheel, Elbert Pope, Greg Lovell, and Lazaro Martin with this hungry pack baying at their heels. Some would cross over and some would not, but that?s the way it gotta be.

Okay, here comes the sprint for stage one. It is Jose Choto, the two time defending champion pulling the trigger. Daniel Quetzal, the Guatemalan rider for Sun Digital Photo, grabs first place in three hours, four minutes, seven seconds.

A disappointed Jose Choto of Santino settles for second, Mateo Cruz, his team-mate, must feel rather fortunate to finish third under the prevailing conditions, and young Darnell Barrow of Benny?s Megabytes rounds out the top five.

Daniel Quetzal, 2nd Place, Stage 1
?Today?s strategy was to see how the other riders performed and to try to win this first stage. Thank God we were able to be triumphant. I came here with the dream and the mindset to win and my team-mates and I are ready to be champions at the end of the race.?

James Adderley
?What are the chances for Jose Choto to bring in the W??

Jose Choto, 3rd Place, Stage 1
?Well the chances there, but the competition tough, because like I seh, the thing just di start and we have the hills fi ride, but we deh there right now.?

James Adderley
?Guinness Seahawks says the Santino team scared today. What we got to say about that??

Jose Choto
?We-that noh?we noh scared man, because fi we team di train hard. I could tell you, you could see it out deh. All ah fi we man them solid, although some ah fi we man get punctures and so, but all ah fi we man them solid and we ready fi any other big team weh come in.?

Thus after stage one, Mateo Cruz of Santino gets to wear the yellow leader?s jersey thank to the time of the road sprint he picked up to total a time of three hours, four minutes, six seconds. Daniel Quetzal of Sun Digital Photo totals one second more for second place, Jose Choto of Santino?s finishes at third in the standings with a time of three hours, four minutes, nine seconds. Gregory Lovell of Guinness Smiling is fourth, and Darnell Barrow of Megabytes rounds out the top five in the overall results from stage one.

We now go back to Orange Walk for Sunday?s start of the eighty-eight miles to Capital City Belmopan in Stage two of the M and M Tour. And meet Mateo Cruz, the race leader obviously in Yellow. Roque Matus in grey represents the best Cat three and four rider, Jose Choto the sprint champion wears green, while Daniel Quetzal wears white to represent the best under twenty-three rider in the field … And they?re off, headed south.

And around mile forty-three and forty-two George Abraham becomes the first rider to leave the tour, forced out by injuries sustained when his bike handle broke in two.

At the Crooked Tree junction, Keeron Rivers of C-Ray Two breaks out of the pack in a big way to grab the first sprint, but this move simply won?t impact his standing very much.

Inside the Boom junction, it?s Chris Harkey, Douglas Lamb, Giovanni Choto, Darrell Fuller, and Mario Sayas ruling the ride, but there would be a lot of changes at the end.

We?re at capital city Belmopan around the Comprehensive High School for the big finish, and the biggest surprise is that Shane Vasquez of Guinness Smiling has zipped past the rest to take top honours. He beat out Marlon Castillo of Santino who takes second, Jose Choto, a bitter rival of Shane Vasquez has to settle for third, Lazaro Martin of M and M is fourth, while Scottie Wies rounds out the top five.

Thus at the end of stage two Mateo Cruz still leads the overall standings with a time of 6:34:14, Daniel Quetzal stands at 6:34:17, Jose Choto 6:34:17, Gregory Lovell 6:34:19, and Lazaro Martin 6:34:24.

In the meantime, stage three got off this morning featuring a twenty-seven mile team trial on the Burrell Boom circle.

Here?s the Sun Digital Photo Team led by Daniel Quetzal taking top hours in fifty-five minutes, thirteen seconds. Obviously that time was hard to beat. Guinness Smiling and Gregory Lovell were able to put up a time of fifty-five minutes, twenty-seven seconds for second place, while the Santino team put up a disappointing fifty-six minutes, seven seconds. They had to settle for third, but more importantly, that finish might have hurt the chances of Mateo Cruz and Jose Choto.

In the meantime, stage three, a forty mile ride on the Western Highway, comes up tomorrow, Tuesday the seventh February and we?ll be updating you on the standings until it concludes. We?ll do that in our daily bulletins right here on News Five. I?m sure you?ll want to join us at that time.

That?s it for now though. Jah over all, I?m James Adderley.