Cycling for Smart Stop of the United States, Gedimias Kaupas (Inteja) and Rob Britton (SSC) left out the Dominican squad taking the first three places of the 141 km first phase from Santo Domingo to San Pedro and back, of the 1,010km Independence Cycling Tour underway throughout the Dominican Republic. He clocked in for 3 hours 8 minutes and 8 seconds. 2013 Colombian defending champion Edwin Sanchez (Formesan) was fourth. As reported, Marcotte held his lead right from the half mark, but his last 700-meter dash decided the event.
As reported in Diario Libre, a Cuban cycling analyst attributed the local team’s poor performance to the fact that Dominican cyclists have not been participating in international competitions.
The second stage is run today and takes cyclists to Samana, a 177 km route.
The competition is a UCI race.
The third stretch is from Samana to Sanchez and San Francisco de Macoris (136 km). The fourth is a turnaround the Avenida Monumental in Santiago. The fifth takes cyclists to Moca, La Vega, Jarabacoa and Constanza (95 km). The sixth takes cyclists on tour from La Vega to Villa Altagracia and then to Santo Domingo (79 km) in the morning, to compete against the clock in the Mirador del Sur Park in the afternoon (20 km). The seventh stretch is San Cristobal-Bani-Azua-San Juan, a distance of 162 km. The eighth is along the Quinto Centenario expressway (96 km.)