Williams Delight - Christiansted - Cycling Simulator

For a few days each season the tropical island of Saint Croix is buzzing with excitement as national teams from all over the world gather for the World Tour race of Williams Delight – Christiansted. St. Croix is the largest of the US Virgin Islands. A former Danish colony, it was sold to the United States of America in 1917, along with St. Thomas and St. John. The finishing town of Christiansted is a former capital of the Danish West Indies, and is now known for its “African-Danish” architecture, since it was built mostly by African slaves.

Many of the roads will feel familiar to riders who have participated in Christiansted - Frederiksted - Christiansted for their trade team, however, often the roads will be ridden in the opposite direction. The riders start out from the small village of Williams Delight and head to Frederiksted, which is just down the road. They then follow the south coast all the way to Christiansted. This is a wide flat road past the airport and the Limetree Bay oil refinery; not exactly the scenery you’d expect from a tropical island. That will all change once they leave the coast and head for Christiansted. The road gets narrower and starts twisting and turning, and then suddenly the riders are surrounded by thick jungle.

Once the riders reach Christiansted, they are far from done, in fact they are not even half way to the finish. They still have to do a loop around the northern part of the island, which is more wild, with hills covered in thick jungle. This is where the route gets difficult. The route mostly follows the coast road but turns inland to hit some climbs. The main climb of the day is 5km at about 5% average gradient, however it has some steeper sections with gradients up to 17%, and it tops out at about 40km to the finish line. Hard enough to drop some of the sprinters, but far enough from the finish line for a regroupment to be likely. A few smaller kickers line the road to the finish with the last one just 4km before the finish. The most likely outcome is a bunch sprint, but the hills in the last half will have sapped the legs of the fastest sprinters. Whoever of the sprinters has most left in the tank will be able to raise their arms in triumph in front of Fort Christianswærn, the old Danish colonial fort.