• Submitted by: admin
• Sports
• 02 / 25 / 2007

Joel Garcia

Dramatic and incredible describes Fridays time trials in the 32nd Tour de Cuba cycling event in which Canadian Svein Tuft broke a record and vaulted to the lead in the general individual category with two days remaining in the competition.

The Canadian rose to the top on Friday. Photo: Ricardo Lopez Hevia

Tuft was one of the early favorites to win the race against the clock in the 11th stage of the Tour de Cuba, having won the event seven times in his country. However, he surpassed expectations and with a 53.49 km/h average time and broke the 53.09 record of Eduardo Alonso (1987).

The Canadian moved ahead of Cubas four time champion Pedro Pablo Perez by 33 seconds in the overall individual competition.

Tuft, of the Symetric-Canada squad, finished in 33:39 followed by Oleksandr Kvachuck (Cinelli-San Marino) 35:01, Arnold Alcolea (Cuba) 35:30 and Pedro Pablo Perez fourth with 36:01, 2 minutes and 22 seconds behind the leader.

"Ill be fighting to the end, but I have to recognize the ability of the Canadian," said Pedro Pablo, adding he would have liked to win on the same day that Cubas Yoanka Gonzalez won a gold medal at the World Cup Cycling Championship in Manchester, England.

The final two legs of the Tour de Cuba are Artemisa-Pinar del Rio on Saturday and the final 15-lap race on the small Marabana circuit in the capitals city center on Sunday.

After Fridays results in the General Individual category Svein Tuft leads with 39:29:35 followed by Pedro Pablo Perez, 33 seconds behind, and Carlos Ochoa of Venezuela 1:04 behind. On points Pedro Pablo Perez leads with 89, Anthony Brea (Venezuela) has 83 and Juan Magallanes (Mexico) is third with 58. By team, Cuba leads with (118:35:17) followed by Symetric-Canada a mere 12 seconds behind and Cinelli-San Marino 1:21 back.

Source: Periodico26