Third straight win for team greens at Gozo Classic

The Gozo Classic saw team leader Etienne Bonello launched to victory with an impeccable show of force by the Greens riders who controlled the race from start to finish.

Still unbeaten for the third time running,this season their team dynamics were proven to be hard to crack. From the start the team set a high tempo with Christian Formosa who rode the first lap at a frantic pace, while Marco Fiorilla, Gerard Said and James Mifsud took the helm of the race setting the high tempo throughout the rest of the, However, into the final laps it was a move by William Hili  of The Cyclist who shook the field with a sharp progression over the Xaghra Hill.

A very attentive Etienne Bonello gave little space to this move as he jumped onto his wheel like a shadow. The duo opened a gap in the final two laps as they raced each other in the final hill towards the finish. Bonello had the better hand to claim the third victory for the team and his first personal win of the season.

Despite riding in front all day James Mifsud dug deep into his energy reserves to claim third spot with Gerard Said claiming the fourth spot for Greens. Hannah Pace of The Cyclist claimed the race in the ladies category followed by Marion Pullicino and Lara Buttigieg of Agones . Joseph Bonello topped the race in the Masters for Team Greens followed by Mark Schembri (Mosta) and Richard Galea (Mosta).

The winners in the other categories were Kurt Muscat (Mosta) in the Juniors, Gejtu Catania (The Cyclist) in the 50plus, Emmanuel Camilleri (Mosta) in the 60+. Isaac Spiteri in the Under 15 Boys and Monica Cutajar in the Under 15 Girls. A shorter race was held for the cycling nurseries. The event also saw the participation of riders from Gozo. The race was made possible with the collaboration of the Xaghra Local Council, Gozo Sports Board, Gozo Greyhounds Sports Club, Greens Super Market, BBB Bike Parts, www.buffmalta.com and Quest Vitamins.
 
International Participation
Following the string of positive results Team Greens will now participate in the Grand Tour of Algeria which will start this Friday in the capital of Algiers. The five man team will compete in 8 stages starting from Algiers heading towards the city of Oran. The race is part of the UCI Aftrica tour and is considered one of the major races on the Aftican continent.

This will be the fourth participation of the team which will be composed of Etienne Bonello, James Mifsud, Gerard Said, Christian Formosa and Alessio Galuppo. The team will be backed up by Barry Whitmore and sports masseur Ian Sammut. The team will face the challenge of professional teams hailing from Europe as well as African countries.