Brehaut a class act

PAUL BREHAUT was starting to stamp his authority on the Guernsey Velo Club's Easter Stage Race after three events. He broke free to win the 12-lap criterium at Delancey on Sunday and secure the yellow jersey going into the final stage.

As riders struggled to clip into their pedals at the start of the race, a fast pace quickly split them up.

Although Brehaut did not have the best start, being a few bike lengths back on the leaders gave him more motivation as he blasted through to go it alone and held on to win.

Nick Mann produced a fine performance to finish in second place and he therefore took the category one yellow jersey.

In the 12-lap category two and three race, it was Mike Serafin who broke free.

A fierce challenge by Jon Mapley and Tom Becker fell short of catching Serafin as he went into the final stage wearing the category two yellow jersey.

Category three honours went to Mark Batiste.

On the previous day, Brehaut showed that third place in stage one was merely a blip when he took the yellow jersey on a 9.5-mile sporting course based at Perelle.

It was not all plain sailing for him, though, as he had to share the spoils of winning day two with Graham Le Maitre.

Both riders were clear of the field though, recording 23min. 25sec.

Ann Bowditch was once again first woman by a comfortable margin.

However, she was battling out the category one honours with the men as usual and was unable to match the time produced by her trainee, Mann, of 24min. 50sec. as he took the yellow jersey home with him.

Many of the club's junior riders put in some outstanding performances, most notably Nathan Baudains who finished in 20th place overall with a time of 27min. 59sec.