Mexican Eder Freyre wins Tour of Tobago, overall Classic title

Mexican and Olympic road cyclist Eder Freyre’s victory in the final stage of the Tobago International Cycling Classic – the 120km Tour of Tobago – saw him emerge this year’s overall winner after four days of intense racing.

Freyre, representing Legion of Los Angeles, conquered the island-wide final course, which started and finished at the Esplanade in Scarborough, in four hours, seven minutes and 36.59 seconds to claim top honours.

American and Miami Blazers representative Jonathan Brown tried to outsprint Freyre over the final few metres on Sunday, but the Mexican held his own to the finish line. Brown, last year’s overall winner, placed second in a close (4:07:37.33).

Pedalling into third, over seven minutes later, was Raiders’ Mateo Castaneda of Colombia, in 4:14:48.30.

Rounding off the top-five stage-four finishers were American/Bike Works p/b Fred Beans rider Sam Smith (4:14:49.05) and Miami Blazers’ Joshua Kelly (4:19:20.57).

Freyre’s win on the final day saw him top division one with 90 points, across four stages. Brown, the 2022 champion, was bumped down into second overall, with 78 points.

Veteran TT endurance cyclist and Tobago-born Emile Abraham (Team Pharmaco/JLD), 39, was third overall, with 64 points. Americans Smith and Gavin Hlady were tied for fourth on 63 points.

TT’s endurance cyclist Akil Campbell was ninth overall (45 pts), and recently crowned national criterium champion Liam Trepte (Team Pharmaco/JLD) was 12th (39 pts).

Over the four stages, Freyre showed class by pedalling to second in the first stage (100 km), won the second (90 km) was sixth in the third (50km) and returned to top of the rostrum for the gruelling 120km distance.

This year’s Classic saw an increase in cyclists as compared to last year’s edition, which was the first after the pandemic.