Wilson wins ‘Flora’ in Heart Beat

After the bell-lap which signalled the final lap to go in the main event which went for 30 minutes and two final laps around the Savannah, Stephen Mangroo, winner of the recent Rituals Coffee House Tour de Cafe three-stage race was well out front, along with closest rival Guy Costa.

The pair had a near 100-metre lead on the trailing bunch when an accident completely changed the anticipated results. Newsday learnt that on the final lap, the cyclists collided with each other as they attempted to avoid hitting a group of children who were crossing the road near the BP Building.

The incident left Arima cyclist Robert Thomas down for more than half-hour before he was taken to hospital.

One of the children was also struck by a cyclist, but fortunately there were no serious injuries.

Meanwhile, Wilson, the Team Trek rider, seized the opportunity to take a huge lead on the rest of the pack which he maintained, only just, until the end, as the evergreen Gill bore down on him.

Gill of Rafmon Mecalfab who finished seventh in last week’s Tour de Cafe came up just short, and his teammate Phillip Clarke finished right behind him in third.

Veteran cyclist Gene "Geronimo" Samuels followed his impressive ride last week, which earned him a fourth place finish was again in the same position., while Costa fought off a challenge from a number of top cyclists to be fifth.

The battling Costa had done well enough to finish second in the Tour de Cafe last weekend, but faced a number of obstacles this time around.

Sheldon Ramjit has been making a name for himself in the cycling arena, and yesterday he followed in that trend when he outclassed a series of tough cyclists to finish ahead of the bunch in seventh position.

Ill-fated Tour de Cafe champion Mangroo who leaves shortly for a training stint in Venezuela, eventually reached the finish line 10th.