By JONATHAN RAMNANANSINGH Wednesday, July 4 2012

National cyclist, Emile Abraham continued to prove his worth on the international endurance circuit when he finished in a creditable fifth place in the Men’s Professional 1/2 Division of the Hyde Park Blast Criterium - USA Crits Series #8 event, which pedalled off in Cincinnati, Ohio, on Saturday.

The Rossetti Devo Cycling Team member finished the undulating course in an impressive time of one hour 28 minutes and 40 seconds (1:28:40.445). Winning the category in just over a minute ahead of Abraham’s time, was James Driscoll of CT Jamis/ Sutter Home in 1:27.33:052 while Panther’s Chris Uberti (1:28:39.222) took silver. Claiming bronze was Coco’s Frank Travieso (1:28:39.807) while Team Mountain Khakis/ SmartStop cyclist Travis Livermon came in fourth (1:28:40.430).

Another local rider, Gevan Samuel could only grasp 77th position in 35:05.242.

Meanwhile on Friday, the 38-year-old Atlanta, Georgia-based rider just missed out on medalling in the Madeira Centennial Criterium, Madeira, Ohio. His fourth place finish in the Category One event saw him earn 80.62pts altogether. The top-three cyclists were Luke Keough (Team Mountain), Ryan Aitcheson (Panther) and Demis Aleman (Jamis Sutter Home) respectively.

The foreign-based cyclist also recorded three well deserved finishes in the Tour of America’s Dairyland Criterium (Wisconsin, USA) last week. In the first stage, Abraham placed 10th (June 21) in the Men’s Professional Category One Senior 10+ event. The second stage of competition saw him cross the finish line fourth. He then secured another fourth place finish in the sixth stage. After this performance, Abraham went straight into the Madeira Criterium.

After seven events, the Rossetti Devo member is in fourth position (1168pts) on the USA Crits Overall Standings.

Before his event on Saturday, Abraham expressed confidence ahead of his Hyde Park encounter.

“I’ve been having good results at the Tour of the Dairyland. The only thing that’s changed is the bike. From the first time I rode the Rossetti I could feel the difference in the stiffness. So now when I come to the end of a race and sprint, all the power that I put into the pedal goes into and the bike responds 100 percent,” he revealed.