CYCLING’S BIG WEEKEND will be without its biggest draw.
A new time trial king and road race champ are set to be crowned as local wonder kid Darren Matthews will not be home to defend either national title this weekend.
The overseas-based 21-year-old sensation has opted against returning home for the two-day championships after being offered a stint to ride with American professional club Team Cocos in Miami.
“He really wanted to come home to ride the championships and defend his crowns but we had to look at the bigger picture,” said Matthews’ father, David.
 “An opportunity like this doesn’t come around all the time and we felt we had to take advantage of this to further advance Darren’s career.”
Widely accredited as a tremendous talent in his teens, Matthews first rose to prominence two years ago with breakout performances in his debut appearances at the Commonwealth and Central American and Caribbean Games.
But he actually didn’t win a senior circuit race at home until capturing last year’s protest-marred national road race title – just one day after also retaining his time trial crown.
“It’s a bit disappointing that he won’t be home but this is what he has been working towards,” reiterated the senior Matthews.
The stint with Team Cocos is just the latest international achievement this year for Matthews, who became the first Bajan rider to cop an endurance medal outside these shores when he placed third at the Pan American Cycling Championships’ scratch race in Argentina three months ago.
This coming just two weeks after Matthews created history by becoming the first foreign rider to take the 3K Colombian Criterium Classic.
He did suffer somewhat of a setback this weekend though, having broken his saddle in half while crashing out of Sunday’s Preston Classic in Ottawa, Canada following a four-man collision on the tight criterium course.
The race was just one of a series of events in Canada that Matthews was using as a training stint ahead of joining Team Cocos. And the reigning national champ put that experience to good use by picking up a third-place finish at the K W Classic Road Race Cup in Ontario ten days ago.
