National junior road race champion 15-year-old Christopher Holder outsprinted his more senior partners in Junior Niles and Leer Nunes to win the first road race of the 2008 season.

The National Sports Com-mission (NSC) Mashramani 40-mile road race took place on the West Bank of Demerara yesterday and saw senior champion Alonzo Greaves finishing half an hour after the winner.

Competing in a race which saw 26 cyclists facing the starter which, according to national cycling coach and race organizer Hassan Mohammed, was twice the amount for the same race last year, Holder made his move with just over 100 metres to go to claim the top spot from Niles and Nunes in that order.

He completed the 40-mile event in a time of 1:44:02s.

Darren Allen, John Charles and Warren Mc Kay rounded off the top six finishers.

When the cyclists were sent on their way by Mohammed from the Demerara Harbour Bridge, veteran Raymond ‘Steely’ Newton made a dash to the front but only stayed there for two minutes before being wheeled in by the peloton led by the hard-working Marlon ‘Fishy’ Williams.

As the peloton approached the turn at Versailles, Tony Simmons and Darren Allen, made their move and shot to the front.

They were joined by Newton, Niles and Linden Blackman at the Vreed-en-Hoop junction.

They held a lead of approximately 150 metres over the peloton all the way to the village of Anna Catherina before being wheeled in by the chasing pack of Holder, Mc Kay, Nunes, Charles and Geron Williams all from the Continental Cycling Club.

They stayed together for 15 minutes before Williams, who was using his track cycle to compete in this event, was forced to call it a day.

The pack stayed together right through to the turning point at De Kinderen and back to the finish line where Holder proved that he was the better sprinter on the day.

Apart from his first place finish, Holder also took the top prize for being the first junior to cross the line.

Allen won two sprint prizes, while there were one each for Holder, Charles, Mc Kay and Newton. Chris Persaud placed second in the junior category to Holder.