VALENTINE CLASSIC
CYCLE RACES
Valentine Classic Cycle Race - This race starts in Belmopan, makes its way to Benque Viejo, then back to Belize City and ends at the Constitution Park. http://cyclebiz.com/
Belize Cycle Races
New Year’s Day Classic Valentine’s Classic Valentine Tour Belmopan Classic Holy Saturday Cross Country Classic Junior Cross Country Classic Women Cross Country Classic Labor Day Classic National ITT Championships National Road Championships King of the Hills Belize City September Criterium http://cyclebiz.com/index.php/races/ |
Cycling Federation of Belize
Event Routes KREM New Year's Day Classic - Corozal-Belize City Valentine Tour (4 days) San Ignacio-Benque-Belize Mount Hope Classic - Belize - Mt Hope-Belize Belmopan Classic Belize - Belmopan-Belize Women Cross Country Classic - San Ignacio-Belize Junior Cross Country Classic - Succotz-Benque-Belize Holy Saturday Cross Country Classic - Belize-San Ignacio-Belize Tour of Belize (5 Days) BELIZE Pablo Marin Labor Day Classic - Corozal-Orange Walk-Corozal Tour of Belize (3 Days) BELIZE Tour of Belize (3 Days) BELIZE American Cycling Championships - ARGENTINA National Individual Time Trial Championship - Burrel Boom-Hattieville National Road Championship - Silk Grass-Belmopan-Northern Hwy-Belize Belize City September Criterium - Albert-Regent Street Circuit Caribbean Cycling Championship - GUADELOUPE Orange Walk By-Pass Criterium - Orange By-Pass Circuit Sagitun Banana Classic - Savanah Road Circuit UWI Day of Races - Marine Parade Boulevard (Belize) TV Ramos Cycling Classic - Dangriga-Southern Hwy-Dangriga Alpheus Williams "Aids Day Classic" - Belmopan-Belize Ham and Turkey Classic - San Ignacio-Belize The courses for Women and Junior riders are shorter but generally follow the same route. The Cycling Federation of Belize advises that particulars of these events may be subject to change. http://cyclebiz.com/index.php/cfb-calendar-2016/ |
For the second year in a row the Valentine Tour was won by a Mexican rider. This year it was Juan Manuel Yapur and in 2015 it was Ignacio Prado.
This is only one of two tours on the CFB calendar; therefore our Belizean riders are very limited in tour riding experience. This is also the first year that Belizean teams are limited to Belizean riders only so we are still working out the pecking order of riders. We must learn that riding in the classics is different from riding in a tour. Different riders are also better suited for different types of races.
Both tours [2015 & 2016] were won by time gained in the individual time trial so obviously the CFB and the Belizean cyclist need to work on time trialing. The time trial is one cycling skill that you can see gains from working at it, quite early in ITT races and in your pacing skills during road races. The time trial works on your riding form, strength and threshold limits.
We also need to work on race tactics as tour racing employs different strategies than classics. In the final stage of this tour, the race leader had 48 seconds on the sixth place rider and only 9 seconds on the second place rider. He had only one teammate and was down over 3 minutes and came back to win the tour without doing any chasing himself. We should never have allowed that to happen. This shows lack of tour racing and race scenario preparations. We also need more coaching courses here in Belize.
That being said, I always have to look at the positive side of things. Thanks to the CFB for having the tour. It was good to see new faces starting to come to the front such as Tarique Flowers of Benny’s Megabytes, Tarique Cano of Team Smart, Ron McKenzie of Westrac Alliance, Keion Robateau of Westrac Alliance and a few more up and coming riders, who had good rides. The 5 stages of racing also covered quite a bit of race miles which is essential to preparing for the Cross Country Classic.
Our main hopefuls for the Cross Country Classic also looked good in their preparation for that Classic; riders like Joel Borland, Brandon Cattouse, Byron Pope and Nissan Arana, just to name a few.
This is only one of two tours on the CFB calendar; therefore our Belizean riders are very limited in tour riding experience. This is also the first year that Belizean teams are limited to Belizean riders only so we are still working out the pecking order of riders. We must learn that riding in the classics is different from riding in a tour. Different riders are also better suited for different types of races.
Both tours [2015 & 2016] were won by time gained in the individual time trial so obviously the CFB and the Belizean cyclist need to work on time trialing. The time trial is one cycling skill that you can see gains from working at it, quite early in ITT races and in your pacing skills during road races. The time trial works on your riding form, strength and threshold limits.
We also need to work on race tactics as tour racing employs different strategies than classics. In the final stage of this tour, the race leader had 48 seconds on the sixth place rider and only 9 seconds on the second place rider. He had only one teammate and was down over 3 minutes and came back to win the tour without doing any chasing himself. We should never have allowed that to happen. This shows lack of tour racing and race scenario preparations. We also need more coaching courses here in Belize.
That being said, I always have to look at the positive side of things. Thanks to the CFB for having the tour. It was good to see new faces starting to come to the front such as Tarique Flowers of Benny’s Megabytes, Tarique Cano of Team Smart, Ron McKenzie of Westrac Alliance, Keion Robateau of Westrac Alliance and a few more up and coming riders, who had good rides. The 5 stages of racing also covered quite a bit of race miles which is essential to preparing for the Cross Country Classic.
Our main hopefuls for the Cross Country Classic also looked good in their preparation for that Classic; riders like Joel Borland, Brandon Cattouse, Byron Pope and Nissan Arana, just to name a few.