Llori Sharpe, the lone Jamaican cyclist that journeyed to the Caribbean Road Cycling Championships, had much to celebrate as she returned to the island with a silver medal for her efforts.

Sharpe contested the 20km individual Time Trial, as well as the 70km at the two-day Championships in Guadeloupe where she placed sixth and second respectively.

Through an extremely hilly terrain, and the mid-afternoon temperatures, Sharpe was able to take advantage of the climbs and led a breakaway away from the pack halfway through lap number two. She was joined by one of the four home cyclists in the race and cyclist from Martinique.

The three held the pace for 5km, after which the Martinique cyclist was left behind. Both Sharpe and Clemence Briche from Guadeloupe kept widening the gap from the chasing pack from an initial 45 seconds to 90 seconds.

At the end of the three-lap event, both cyclists were comfortably ahead by 4 minutes. Sharpe completed the 70 km in 2 hours 8 minutes and 29.66 seconds, for the silver medal, just under 5 seconds behind Guadeloupe’s Briche, who won in 2 hours 8 minutes 23.89 seconds. Martinique’s Kellieanne Julus was next in 2 hours 12 minutes 42 seconds to complete the top three.

Though no Jamaican males participated in the championships, from a field of 50 male cyclists at the start of the six-lap 140km road race only 19 finished. Some faded from exhaustion, while others were pulled after being lapped.

The Jamaica Cycling Federation said it intended to have more cyclists participate at the event. However, the logistics and visa requirements for travel to Guadeloupe made things difficult.