Cyclists Finish Commonwealth Road Race
[Updated] Bermuda’s final day of competition at the 2022 Commonwealth Games concluded in impressive fashion, as following the track & field medal win, the island’s cyclists all made a strong showings in the road race this morning [Aug 7] in Birmingham.
All three Bermuda cyclists finished the race, which by itself is no small feat considering the race was 160km and 49 cyclists recorded a DNF [Did Not Finish], with the winning time being in excess of 3 hours and 28 minutes.
To put the distance into the Bermuda context — as the grueling race was significantly longer than the island — it was like cycling from the airport to Dockyard, back to the airport, back to Dockyard, back to the airport again, and then back to Dockyard for the third time.
Kaden Hopkins was the top Bermuda finisher with the 22-year-old cyclist making a big showing to place 14th, while Conor White placed 31st and Nicholas Narraway placed 64th, as all three cyclists placed in the top 52% of the 124 strong starting field.
Unfortunately the island’s fourth cyclist Caitlin Conyers — Bermuda’s top female cyclist — did not start the cycling race this morning, with the BOA stating that while she was “no longer symptomatic for Covid, she had yet to receive a clearance from the Games organization testing facility.” While Conyers is undoubtably disappointed not to have been able to compete, it must be noted that she qualified for this world class event, which is an accomplishment in its own right.
Kaden Hopkins — who was also the island’s top placing cyclist in the time trial – will serve as the flag bearer for the closing ceremony.
Nicholas Narraway, Kaden Hopkins & Conor White at the Commonwealth Games earlier this week
Update | Report from Stephen Wright: Kaden Hopkins continued his impressive form with a fourteenth-place finish in the cycling road race at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham. Hopkins, who finished a superb eleventh in the time-trial on Thursday, completed the ten-lap, 160-kilometre course in Warwick in 3hr 32min 23sec.
Caitlin Conyers did not receive clearance from the Games organisation to compete in the women’s road race, having tested positive for Covid-19 earlier in the week. She also missed the time-trial race.
Conor White, who placed fifteenth in the time-trial, finished 31st in the road race in 3:37:08, while Nicholas Narraway came 64th in 3:38:11.
Hopkins, who races on the European circuit for Spanish outfit Equipo Essax, said: “I knew I was in good shape after the time-trial. I was trying to have a good race but knew it would be hard to get in the front move.
“I just tried to stay in the front for the first few laps. I knew if I started to slide back and splits were happening, I would miss it. I was trying to be conservative, but you can be so conservative until the attacks start. I followed them for a decent amount of time. It was hard, but I’m happy with it.”
The 22-year-old added: “I put in a huge month of training. I wanted to be in the best shape I could. I think I executed that to the best of my ability.”
For our ongoing daily updates of the 2022 Commonwealth Games click here, and for all our coverage of the Commonwealth Games over the years click here.
The full Commonwealth Road Race results follow below [PDF here]:
