Ben Kersten wins a sizzling Professional Criterium at OCBC Cycle Singapore 2010!
With Singapore’s roads closed and the sun yet to rise; 5,400 riders were flagged-off in The Challenge – 40km by Dr. Vivian Balakrishnan, Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports in the first race of the second day of cycling action at OCBC Cycle Singapore 2010.
First over the finishing line for the men was Norweigan Hauga Bergtor and Siw Haller, also from Norway collected the women’s top prize.
After 2,260 took part in The Community Ride – 20km at 7.30am, the proceedings moved to the floating platform where The Super Challenge – 50km went at a fast and furious pace round a ten kilometre circuit on the route that will be used for the upcoming Youth Olympic Games in August. Quickest in the pack was visiting Australian journalist Alex Malone, who clocked a time of one hour, seven minutes and one second. Top female competitor was Singaporean Dinah Chan in one hour, nine minutes and five seconds.
For the second year running, the winner of the professional criterium hailed from Australia – Ben Kersten from Team Fly V Australia, taking part in the event for the first time. Leading 65 professional in a close sprint finish, they riders covered a distance of 76 kilometres in one hour, 40 minutes and 40 seconds.
Speaking after this victory, Kersten said, “This has been a superbly organised event and I would really like to come back next year and take part in this race again. I felt really fresh out there today and rode hard in a tough race.”
Crowds basked in the midday sun to cheer on some of the world’s best riders who paved the way for the final races of the day- the Ladies’, Masters’ and Open Criteriums. Dinah picked up her second victory of the day in the Ladies’ Criterium; ex-professional rider Graeme Miller won the Masters’ while Bin Mat Senan Mohd clinched the Open Criterium to close proceedings.
Managing Director of event organiser and owner Spectrum Worldwide, Chris Robb was delighted with the success of a packed weekend of cycling. He said, “This weekend’s event demonstrated that the passion for cycling amongst Singaporeans is growing and the performance level across all rides was better than expected. We will definitely be looking at ways to grow and expand this event in the future