Marie Claire Aquilina holds feminine title
The recent National Road Championship organized by the Malta Cycling Federation saw Pierre Borg of Mosta AF Sing Studio being declared as the new national champion for the first time for the Mosta club to obtain this title after a failure of fifteen years. On the Ladies’ side, Marie Claire Aquilina of the Greens Team retained the title. This Championship was strongly dominated by the Mosta AF Sing Studio Club where they won five championships.
This year, due to the problems created by the Pandemic and to protect the health of cyclists and members, this Championship was also held on one race instead of the usual three, so that the national champions could emerge. In fact, this Road Championship was not held last year for the same reasons. The decisive race of this Road Championship took place on Sunday 8th August 2021 on the Ta’ Xħajma circuit in the limits of Nadur, Gozo. This was the first time in the history of local cycling that a National Championship was decided with a unique race in Gozo.
Pierre Borg of Mosta AF Sing Studio topped the championship for the first time in history when he finished his twelfth lap of 70Km in front, with a time of 1:39:59.48, in a final sprint with Team Greens Cyclist Etienne Bonello who finished 0:00.41 seconds behind him. Mark Bonnici of Agones SFC came in third (1:40:03.80).
In the Ladies category, Team Greens cyclists dominated as Marie Claire Aquilina finished first her eight laps in a time of 1:11:44.76. For her, this was the fourth National Road title. Aquilina thus doubled this year’s titles when she won also the Time Trial Championship weeks ago. She was followed by her teammates, Danica Bonello Spiteri (1:13:06.58) and Michelle Vella Wood (1:14:01.38), respectively.
Mosta also did very well in the Masters Category. In the 40+, Justin Gauci finished ahead of two The Cyclist riders when he finished ahead of his 8 laps in a time of 1:06:48.12. He was followed by Nicholas Schembri (1:06:48.36) and Antoine Sultana (1:06:48.63). The Masters 50+ category was won by Emmanuel Camilleri of Mosta AF Sign Studio CC (1:18:48.54).
The Under-23 category was won by Luke Borg of The Cyclist who doubled this year national titles when, after winning the Time Trial Championship, he also won this Road Championship – finishing first in a final sprint with Stefan Scerri of Gozo CC as he finished the tenth lap ahead in a time of 1:22:02.49, a minimum advantage of 0:00.29 seconds over the Gozitan Scerri. Brandon Sultana of Gozo CC (1:29:40.39) finished in third place.
In the Juniors Category, Daniel Schembri of Mosta AF Sign Studio also made a double where after winning the Time Trial Championship, he also won this Championship when he finished his 8 laps first to be crowned as Juniors champion in a time of 1:06:34.36 in front of Darren Sultana of Gozo CC.
Jeaken Galea of Mosta AF Sign Studio won the Under 16 Men’s Category where he finished his four laps ahead of Lyan Muscat of TriGozo and Miguel Galea of The Cyclist. Ryan Gatt of The Cyclist won the Men’s Under-14 Category where he finished the three laps ahead of Chylen Fava and Sven Cini, both of TriGozo.
The 2.5km Under-12 Boys category was dominated by Liam Daly of Shamrock Stars ahead of two TriGozo cyclists, Giuseppe Borg and Aiden Muscat respectively. The same Girls Category was won by Nina Debono Curmi, also of Shamrock Stars.
