It was a hard-fought race to determine this year’s road race national champion.
Etienne Bonello (Team Greens) and Maurice Formosa (Melita Pedal Power) stood an equal chance to claim the title as both led the provisional classification after scoring the same tally of points in the first two rounds.
The decisive race was held recently on the Żurrieq-Mqabba circuit which featured an incline on the uneven tarmac near Tal-Maqluba. The lap had to be covered ten times for a total distance of 100kms.
From the start Team Greens took to the front and held a steady pace to keep the bunch together. Half-way through the distance Clive Ebejer, of Melita, managed to break away but he was soon reeled in.
Team Greens then went on the offensive with a counter-attack from Chris Gatt. He was joined by Qormi’s David Galea who suffered a puncture leaving the other pace-setter on his own in front.
Galea was eventually caught in the final two laps.
Team-mate support
In the final stages, Bonello found support from team-mate Jason Vella who sustained the high pace at Tal-Maqluba as the race was now destined to a sprint finish.
Gatt pushed the pace to lead Bonello to a final sprint but an alert Formosa anticipated the move to surge ahead to the finishing line.
Bonello took to his chase and pipped his direct rival at the line with Ebejer in third place.
“It was my duty to finish off the good work my team-mates did for me. I cannot thank them enough,” Bonello said.
“It was very hard and the final metres were very tricky. We showed great character and unity and the outcome was a result of our collective effort.”
The race was run smoothly by the Malta Cycling Federation with the collaboration of the police, club delegates and volunteers.
The next competition will be the final round of the time trial championship on August 7 with the classical season-ender hillclimb at Miżieb.
In the meantime, the federation is urging all cycling enthusiasts to attend the Cliff Micallef Memorial Ride on Sunday, starting from near the Sliema Ferries at 9 a.m.