135 riders, 9 days, 592 miles, but just one yellow jersey...who would wear it at the end of the Tour of Belize? Well Swede Bjorn Anderson and been strong throughout, but on Saturday, defending champion 19 year old Marlon Castillo stepped out on the Hummingbird Highway to take charge of the race. And that's the way he kept it, going into the final stage on Sunday when he was just working to protect his 43 second lead. But a last minute mishap would throw that strategy into question. Here's what happened.
With a large group of spectators gathered on the roadside, the stage was dramatically set for the end of stage 9 and the finish of the Tour of Belize at mile 2 on the Northern Highway in front of M&Ms Engineering. The cyclists would have to make two laps between the roundabouts, but the crowd was let down when the blue of the Guatemalan National Team held the front and the man with the yellow jersey was nowhere to be seen as the pack headed into the first lap. At the end of the first lap, king of the hills, Erik Kiem was bringing him back to protect his precious 43-second lead. At the finish Belize's Gregory Lovell would win his fourth stage with a powerful sprint performance.
Marlon Castillo came in at the back of the pack, but he still finished first overall, best by 43 seconds. He made his race on Saturday in the hills when he went head to head with the Guatemalans and beat them down.
Question: Were you scared of those Guatemalans climbing the gap?
Marlon Castillo, Winner
"No."
Question: Marlon you are only nineteen years old, you have one the KREM Classic once at 17 years old, you have been second in the KREM Classic twice, this is your second M&M victory, can I ask you if the Cross Country is next?
Marlon Castillo,
"I would just put in more hours on the bike…"
Erik Kiem,
"Marlon is a great talent. We need to bring him to the States or Europe but he is a phenomenal talent and he needs to get out of Belize and start doing some bigger races because he is only nineteen and that can go really really far."
And if you're wondering what that red stuff on Kiem's face is?
Erik Kiem,
"One of the Guatemalan guys just punched me in the face."
Q: For no reason at all?
Erik Kiem,
"We've been having confrontation words but I didn't hit him, he hit me."
And while police took him in to attend to that matter, Marlon and his team mates took a victory lap.
"The whole idea of the tour is to develop younger riders so that learn a lot, learn how this thing is done internationally as well as the level of competition that is out there. I think in that respect it has been a very successful event."
And so on this day it was fitting that this 19 year old should hoist the flag on his shoulder because that's where he carries Belize's cycling hopes for the upcoming Cross Country.
Marlon Castillo's final wining time for the tour was 23 hours, six minutes, 26 seconds, 44 seconds ahead of second place finisher, Guatemalan Johnny Moralez who is followed by another Guatemalan Carlos Hernandez.
As for Guatemalan Miguel Perez who punched Eric Keem, no police action will be taken, but he will be suspended form cycling in Belize for the rest of the year.
Reflecting the true international flavour of the event, and underscoring young Marlon's supremacy, only three Belizeans finished in the top twenty. They are seventh place finisher Shane Vasquez and 20th place finisher Jose Choto. See the full Tour results at tourdeBelize.com.
