He won it two times in a row and when he crossed the finish line first this morning – 20-year-old Marlon Castillo seemed on his way to winning the Tour of Belize a third time. But the bad news tonight is that Castillo likely won’t get his three-peat. He won the race from Orange Walk to Leslie’s Import this morning and that’s where our story begins.
Keith Swift Reporting,
This morning Marlon Castillo dramatically sprinted across the finish line – winning stage 2 of the Tour of Belize.
Marlon Castillo, Team Santino
“It feels good. I feel so proud to win this stage today.”
But that victory was short lived – because moments after winning – the UCI stripped Marlon of his first place finish.
Randy Schaeffer, UCI
“We noticed three riders stopped by the side of the road, two riders switched bikes and as the riders passed me I noticed that number one was riding the bicycle for number twelve which meant there had been a change of equipment between teams and under UCI regulations, since a stage race is about teams, it is illegal for teams to change equipment between each other such as wheels and bicycles.”
Santino Castillo, Team Manager
“He had some bike problems right at Hattieville and he asked one of his ex-teammates that’s riding for Red Bull, Ernest Meighan to please lend him his bike. Ernest didn’t want to do it because he felt that there could be a fine. That’s what we thought it would be. They had been fining us, every time we make a mistake, a hundred francs and so Jawmaine didn’t want the fine to take place but Marlon insisted so Jawmaine gave him the bike and he finished on Jawmaine’s bike instead of his bike and we didn’t know that according to UCI rules you have to finish on your bike. All the bikes have a number and he didn’t finish on his bike so they disqualified him.”
Team Manager Santino Castillo says that leaves little chance for Marlon Castillo to do a three-peat victory of the tour.
Santino Castillo,
“For Marlon this tour is done. Yesterday Marlon came thirteen minutes behind so to tell the truth I wasn’t even planning on Marlon winning this tour again. But clearly I felt he could have won a couple stages and I still feel he could win another stage or two, being the strong climber he is when we get to the hills. I entered this tour with a good set of cards in my hands, like I said. I thought I had four aces that could win it and I still have three that are right up there. One is number 2, second in the tour, Santos and and is in the top 5. So Team Santino has a good chance.”
And with Marlon stripped, Chilean Carlos Oyarzan held on to the yellow jersey.
Carlos Oyarzan, Team Tecos
“Being the leader is important and he is happy to be in Belize and he hopes to continue doing well.”
Because Marlon Castillo was disqualified – the first place went to the second place finisher who was Bjorn Selander from the United States U-23 Cycling Team. It is important to know that Marlon will still be allowed to continue the Tour of Belize. His chance of winning is now dramatically diminished because his finish time in today’s race was reverted to that of other riders in the main pack. So if you add his revised finish today to yesterday’s poor showing - he is too far behind.
