Unless a miracle happens, seven-time champion, Emile Abraham, of T&T, will not be among the top overall riders in the Tobago Cycling Classic when the fifth and final stage–the Tour of Tobago–is contested today, from 7 am. In Stage Four yesterday, an unlucky Abraham crashed into a car with six of the 15 laps of the Scarborough Circuit remaining. He escaped with a slight injury to his right leg and is still expected to be in the line-up in defence of his Tour of Tobago crown today.
National road champion, Colin Wilson, riding for Team Trek, copped the stage in a time of 3:27.28.0. Wilson had to stave off a determined challenge from Great Britain's Peter Williams (Team Barcode), who clocked 3:27.28.2. Third was Vimitri Deliot of Guadeloupe in 3:27.29.0. Marloe Rodman (Rafman Melcafab/Jamcaica) was fourth in 3:30.34.2. Abraham was in the front bunch when he ran into the car while trying to get across the group of pacesetters, along with Austrian Andreas Mueller.
At the time, the frontrunners were heading into a blind-corner near Bishop's High School. The car the local wheelsman hit was moving in the opposition direction–it was supposed to be one-way –and he hit it head on. "I escaped serious injury because we were going up hill and the driver was able to stop the car before I hit it," said Abraham. "My bicycle wasn't damaged but I hurt my right leg. My chances are not too good now."
There was an early breakaway with four riders that included Wilson, Deliot and American Eric Murphy - the foursome moving clear from lap two and gaining a five minutes, 15 seconds lead.
After Abraham crashed, Mueller went on to catch the head group along with Williams. At that point there were seven riders in the lead group. Deliot attacked and Williams and Wilson went with him, leaving the remaining riders to be caught by the peloton (big bunch).
Williams will start today's final stage as the overall leader. He will enjoy a three minute advantage over long-time leader Lisbon Quintero on Colombia, Jean-Michel La Chance of Canada and Austrians George Tazreiter and Werner Riebenhauer. O'Neil Samuel of Jamaica, riding for Team Trek, will start as the leading regional cyclist. He is in ninth place with an overall time of 9:25.43.25.