Over 175 lo­cal and in­ter­na­tion­al cy­clists will as­sem­ble in To­ba­go for the 25th an­nu­al To­ba­go In­ter­na­tion­al Cy­cling Clas­sic, which be­gins to­day with a 120km road race through Shir­van, Carn­bee and Buc­coo. Com­pris­ing of five events, the Clas­sic will con­clude on Sun­day with a UCI-sanc­tioned Tour of To­ba­go (112km) which will take the rid­ers through­out the is­land. It will mark the first time a race in T&T has been recog­nised by the UCI with the first eight fin­ish­ers earn­ing points to go to­wards their in­ter­na­tion­als, in­clud­ing 40 for the win­ner, 30 for sec­ond place and 16 to third. Prize mon­ey, 3100 eu­ros, will al­so be on of­fer for the top 20 places.

Among the lead­ing lo­cals signed up are Emile Abra­ham (Team Vi­ta Malt), Adam Alexan­der (Team Foun­da­tion), Guy Cos­ta (Raf­mon Mecal­fab), Joshua Alexan­der (Raf­mon Mecal­fab) and Col­in Wil­son (Team Trek). They will be com­ing up against a field of over 60 for­eign­ers in­clud­ing Cana­di­an Michael Larsen, France's Au­re­lian Passeron, Aus­tri­an Ri­car­do Zoidl, Cuban Maikel Matos, the Czech Re­pub­lic's David Cueli and Ger­man Timo Scholtz. A one-hour spe­cial on the Clas­sic will be broad­cast on ES­PN and ES­PN In­ter­na­tion­al lat­er this year.

TEAMS

TEAM VI­TA MALT: Emile Abra­ham (Trinidad and To­ba­go), Diego Gar­avi­to (Colom­bia), Serghei Tvet­cov (Rus­sia), Se­bas­t­ian Can­cio (Ar­genti­na), Daniel As­coneguy (Uruguay), Ce­sar Gra­jales (Co­lum­bia), Pe­te Williams (Unit­ed King­dom), Kris­t­ian House (Unit­ed King­dom)

TEAM RIO GRANDE (USA): Dy­lan E. Jones (USA), Chris Hilli­er (Unit­ed King­dom), John Gre­go­ry Phillips (USA), Scott Ti­et­zel (USA), Trevor Con­nor (Cana­da), Adam Carr (USA), Spencer Smither­man (USA), Math­ew O'Ha­gan (USA)

BQ CY­CLING TEAM (GER­MANY): Ben­jamin Jo­erges (Ger­many), An­dreas Henig (Ger­many), Frank Udo Scherzinger (Ger­many), Fe­lix Dor­ing (Ger­many), De­nis Bo­jarkin (Ger­many), Lukas Arnold Al­tenkamp (Ger­many), David Arno Bar­tel (Ger­many), An­dreas Michael Feis­tel (Ger­many), Ben­jamin Staud­er (Ger­many).

TEAM JANATEC (GER­MANY): Timo Scholtz (Ger­many), Rick Am­pler (Ger­many), Con­stan­tin Liebenow (Ger­many), Manuel Re­ich (Ger­many), Dirk Feist, Antti Sziko (Fin­land), Krist­jan Beek­mann (Fin­land)

TEAM 1% (CANA­DA): Jean-Michel Lachance (Cana­da), Eti­enne Sam­son (Cana­da), Louis Charles Lacroix (Cana­da), Jean-François Racine (Cana­da), Nils Pen­ton (Swe­den)

RC-GOURMET­FEIN WELS (AUS­TRIA): Wern­er "Ribi" Rieben­bauer (Aus­tria), An­dreas "Prince" Graf (Aus­tria), Ric­car­do "Bath-Keep­er" Zoidl (Aus­tria), Ste­fan Ra­bitsch (Aus­tria), Jörg Thall­ham­mer (Aus­tria), Georg Tazre­it­er (Aus­tria), Patrick "Koni" Kon­rad (Aus­tria)

TEAM EXUS­TAR: Michael Smith Larsen (Den­mark), Nich­las Eber­hardt Sorensen (Den­mark), Hen­ner Rodel (Ger­many), Tim Ot­tens (Nether­lands), Atze Dijkhuis (Nether­lands), Lang Reynolds (USA), Jonathan Teeter (USA), James Stout (Unit­ed King­dom)

SCHED­ULE

To­day

Open­ing Cer­e­mo­ny, Crown Point Ho­tel, 10 am

Race 1 (120km), Shir­van/Carn­bee/Buc­coo, 1.30 pm

To­mor­row

Race 2 (117km), Les Coteaux/Arnos Vale/Mt Marie; 7.30 am

Fri­day

Race 3 (50 Laps), Ply­mouth, 1 pm

Sat­ur­day

Race 4 (Cri­teri­um Race, 60 Laps) Mar­ket Square, Scar­bor­ough, 8.30 am

Sun­day

Tour of To­ba­go (UCI 1.2 In­ter­na­tion­al Road Race); 9 am

Prize Pre­sen­ta­tion & Clas­sic Grand Fi­nale, Scar­bor­ough Es­pi­onade, 11.30 pm