Je­lani Beck­les

T&T Cy­cling Fed­er­a­tion (TTCF) pres­i­dent Robert Far­ri­er wants na­tion­al en­durance cy­clist Emile Abra­ham to help the young na­tion­al en­durance rid­ers, af­ter Abra­ham an­nounced on Sun­day that he will re­tire from the sport.

Abra­ham, 41, made the an­nounce­ment at the fi­nal prize pre­sen­ta­tion and farewell lime when the To­ba­go In­ter­na­tion­al Cy­cling Clas­sic con­clud­ed on Sun­day. Abra­ham's last out­ing for the na­tion­al team will be the Caribbean Road Cham­pi­onships in Bar­ba­dos on Oc­to­ber 17 and 18.

Far­ri­er, who de­scribed Abra­ham's ca­reer as out­stand­ing, wants to utilise the vet­er­an's ex­per­tise.

Far­ri­er said: "I like to see peo­ple of his stature give back to the sport. I will have a dis­cus­sion with him soon about bring­ing en­durance rid­ers to the lev­el of the sprint­ers. He has the knowl­edge to give back, he can put his knowl­edge to use." Far­ri­er added the TTCF will dis­cuss how it will re­ward Abra­ham for his ser­vice to the sport.

The TTCF pres­i­dent is count­ing on the younger cy­clists to fill Abra­ham's shoes. "We have depth in that (en­durance) area, es­pe­cial­ly in the young rid­ers such as om­ni­um rid­ers Ak­il Camp­bell and Varun Ma­hara­jh. It's time for them to step up and fill his shoes."

A lot is ex­pect­ed of na­tion­al ju­nior cy­clist Tyler Cole, who won the over­all di­vi­sion two ti­tle at the four-stage To­ba­go In­ter­na­tion­al Cy­cling Clas­sic.

Far­ri­er re­spects Abra­ham for com­pet­ing at a high lev­el un­til his an­nounce­ment. "It will be good if he could share his se­crets with every­one. He has done well to com­pete at a high lev­el for so many years."

For­mer top na­tion­al cy­clist Gene Samuel said Abra­ham's re­tire­ment did not come as a sur­prise. Samuel said: "It does not come as a sur­prise, he has been eas­ing up for the last two years. All good things come to an end. He is our best road rid­er cur­rent­ly."

Samuel al­so be­lieves the fu­ture is bright. "There are a lot of young­sters com­ing up such as my son Gevan, but I think Emile is a lev­el ahead and I am sor­ry to see him re­tire but he will be around to en­cour­age the young rid­ers."

The for­mer sprint cy­clist be­lieves Abra­ham still has the abil­i­ty to com­pete at a top lev­el and he proved that at the UCI Tour of To­ba­go on Sun­day when he was the on­ly T&T cy­clist to fin­ish the gru­elling 120km race. "Emile has been rac­ing on the North Amer­i­can Pro Cir­cuit. It is a men­tal thing, phys­i­cal­ly he is still able. He was the on­ly T&T cy­clist to fin­ish yes­ter­day." Abra­ham fin­ished 17th over­all in the Tour of To­ba­go event.

The Tour of To­ba­go is a UCI-sanc­tioned event, there­fore top in­ter­na­tion­al rid­ers come to To­ba­go to com­pete. Samuel hopes he is re­ward­ed for his ef­forts. "Some­thing should be done, he has flown the flag for many years."