Jamaica International Cycling Classic expands in second year as a UCI race
Sergio Henao wins three-stage race with a much-improved start-list. The race is one of only UCI event in the Caribbean.
The Jamaica International Cycling Classic - which is the first UCI event in its nation’s history - has experienced encouraging signs of growth in its second edition as a UCI event, typifying the development of the sport in the Caribbean region in recent years.
The 2025 race, which took place between the 4th and 6th of April, saw its start-list almost double in size from the 2024 edition. The race included three Continental level squads - up from one in 2024 - and several former professionals and European-based riders including cousins Sergio and Sebastien Henao, racing for Colombian team Nu Colombia. They were joined by defending champions Medellin-EPM and the Dutch Universe Cycling Team as the favourites for the event with their UCI status.
Other club-level teams from Jamaica, USA, Canada, Belize, Trinidad & Tobago, Netherlands and Guyana were also taking part in the race alongside the Cayman Islands national team.
The race followed a similar route to last year around the Montego Bay area to the north of Jamaica, but extra loops were added to finishing circuits to increase the distance and difficulty on each stage.
Stage one was won by former UAE Team Emirates Gen Z rider Jhonatan Guatibonza, riding for his new team Nu Colombia. Veteran Robigzon Oyola of Medellin finished second to his young compatriot in the bunch sprint, with 21-year-old Derrick Chavarria of Belize and amateur team G-Flow in third.
It was another bunch kick on the second stage, won this time by Oyola who took the race lead with Guatibonza back in third. Another rider from Belize and G-Flow, Jyven Gonzalez, split the Colombians.
After two bunch sprints, the race split apart on the final, most decisive stage of the race. The stage which started and finished in Whitter Village saw an escape group of three break away from an already reduced peloton. American John Borstelmann won the stage in a two-up sprint with Sergio Henao, with Canadian Gregory Zapata distanced in the closing kilometres to finish third.
The leaders took over a minute out of the chasing pack which contained race leader Oyola, meaning that veteran Colombian and 2017 Paris-Nice winner Sergio Henao took the overall win with Borstelmann and Zapata behind him on the podium.
To have a winner of the calibre of Henao, who spent ten years in the WorldTour, really demonstrates the growth of this race - even if the former Team Sky man is now 37 and not the force he once was.
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Of the growth of the race and its improved start-list, Race Director Carlton Simmonds said to the Jamaica Observer ahead of the race: “It speaks to the interest that it is going to garner in the future, and I also think it speaks well for cycling not just in Jamaica, but in the Caribbean, because the region will be exposed to top flight, professional cycling.”
Simmonds also talked about how the race itself is boosting cycling in Jamaica both as a sporting pursuit and a leisurely past-time. It’s giving a platform for the young people of Jamaica to get inspired to ride and race.
“I think the event has opened the doors for more conversation around not just the event itself, but Jamaica as a whole as a destination for cycling. So even the recreational side of it has grown immensely, and we now have more people riding bikes in Jamaica than, say, three or four years ago,” Simmonds said.
“So I think it will help, and it will continue to help, in promoting Brand Jamaica, in developing the local competitive side of the sport, because what it does now, it opens the eyes to a lot of youngsters who might be seeing it and want to be a part of it and see cycling as a sport that they want to be a part of.”
Exposure to high quality racing
Ahead of the first UCI edition of the race in 2024, I spoke to Race Director Simmonds about the development of the sport and the promotion of the Jamaican International Cycling Classic to UCI status for Cyclingnews.
Simmonds competed himself to a high level during his own cycling career and is now coach of Simmonds High Velocity Cycling Club in Jamaica. He pushed for the race to have UCI status in a bid to give local riders an opportunity to develop.
“I think it will help our regional riders to be more exposed to higher-quality racing and higher-quality of riders,” Simmonds said at the time. “I think that is what is lacking in this space: the calibre of racing that we have and the type of riders that our regional riders are exposed to in terms of their own development.”
With twelve months of growth having passed for the Jamaican riders and others from the Caribbean since the 2024 edition, some progression was evident during the three stages. In addition to the high-performing riders from Belize, particularly encouraging was 18-year-old Jaequan Dixon’s 10th place on stage one - Dixon was Jamaican junior road race champion in 2024. However, it’s clear that the Jamaican riders still have lots of space for development, with their highest placing on GC being Andrew Ramsey in 31st, more than eight minutes behind Henao.
Caribbean cycling has been progressing steadily for several years, with more racers than ever progressing onto European teams at both UCI and amateur level. Races like the Jamaica International Cycling Classic are vital to the continued growth of the sport. That’s why it’s so positive to see this race becoming firmly established and growing in stature.
However, this race remains only one of two UCI events in the whole of the Caribbean region for men or women - the other being the long-running Tour de la Guadeloupe. For the development of the sport, what is needed now is for more Caribbean nations to follow and create more top-level opportunities to race.
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