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UCI World Paracycling Road Championships
August 21, 2010; Baie-Comeau, Canada 2010
Day 3 More Gold for Great Britain
The morning of Day 3 of the Paracycling Road World Champs saw more success for Great Britain with a Gold Medal for Rachel Morris and a fantastic 4th place for World Championship debutant Karen Darke, the same result as in the time trial. There was more Gold in the afternoon races where the C3 road race had Shaun McKeown and Rik Waddon, plus the C5 women’s road race where Sarah Storey was competing for her second Gold and to defend her title in this event.
H3 Women's Road Race - 34.2Km
Rachel Morris was Great Britain's entrant in the H3 women’s road race, which covered 3 laps of the race course. This meant 3 times up the main tough climb, which was a tough prospect for the hand cyclists. Once the race had started, Morris pushed the pace the first time up the main climb which caused the bunch to split and Morris got away with two Suisse girls.
It then became a matter of time before Morris used her supreme strength to loose her rivals on the climb and when she came through the finish with one lap to go, she was alone and had 40 seconds on her chasers. The last lap was a demonstration of power for Morris where she extended her lead to 1 minute 37 seconds.
It was a fantastic race to watch and seeing how fast the hand cyclists were going through the finish area quickly made it apparent that standards have again moved on from previous championships with Morris coming out of the race as World Road Race champion for Great Britain. This gave Morris double gold, after her win in the time trial on day 1 of the championships.
British cycling spoke to Rachel after her amazing championships and today’s race "That is fantastic! Another rainbow jersey! I tried to carry out our plan of attack (Rachel and coaches tactical plan) which was to control the speed on the first lap up the climb where I was able to get a gap on my opponents. Then I waited for the two Suisse riders to catch me on the downhill to the finish."
"Then on lap two, I really went hard up the climb, where I managed to get away! Then the last lap was everything I had left. I'm really happy to be double World Champion and after the problems with classification last year I was so glad to win this year. Thanks must go to the support staff for all of their help, which makes it so easy to concentrate on your race, plus thanks to Chris Peterson of Top End Cycles for the awesome machine I'm riding."
Great team work with team GB!
Results
1 MORRIS, Rachel H3 GBR 1:18:04
2 GRAF, Sandra H3 SUI 1:19:41 1:37
3 KIM, Jung Im H3 KOR 1:35:52 17:48
H2 Women’s Road Race - 34.2Km
Karen Darke continued her progress, starting the road race for category H2 where she was looking to build on her time trial performance from Day 1 of the championships. The race covered 3 laps of the 11.4km course and very quickly the pace was being set extremely high by the Suisse competitor Schwaller.
Darke was able to stay with the 3rd placed Italian for a while on the road until the pace took its toll and Darke came in to finish a very good fourth. A very respectable performance at the ever improving World of Paracycling.
British Cycling spoke to Karen Darke after the finish "That was a hard race! I tried to stay with the Italian for a while which I managed on the climbs but wasn't quite able to stay with her on the flat and downhills. I've ridden a handbike for a while, but racing one at this level is completely different so I have some good experience at this level now to take home with me and motivate me for next year and beyond. The support crew have been fantastic and it allows you to concentrate on your racing and not worry about anything else. I'm looking forward to the future racing already".
Results
1 SCHWALLER, Ursula H2 SUI 1:19:41
2 DAVIS, Marianna H2 USA 1:22:19 2:38
3 FENOCCHIO, Francesca H2 ITA 1:23:21 3:40
4 DARKE, Karen H2 GBR 1:29:50 10:09
C5 Women's Road Race - 57 Km
Sarah Storey was competing in the C5 Women's road race with five laps of the tough circuit to complete. After the surprise second place for the Polish rider Anna Harkowska in the time trial, Storey new almost certainly her biggest challenge would come from the Pole and the race did not disappoint!
As the riders pulled away from the start on a glorious day in Baie-Comeau, Harkowska attacked immediately with all the riders in the group staying together until the first major climb. Once on the main climb, Storey upped the pace to slim down the front group with only Harkowska and the two Americans Neimanas and Crowley able to stay with Storey.
The climb saw Storey pile on the pressure each lap until she only had Harkowska for company. Once the final lap had started, Storey decided to attack Harkowska again on the main climb but the Polish rider managed, some how! to stay with Storey after the fierce attacks.
Heading towards the finish, Storey then attacked again in the final few kilometres, but was again bought back by Harkowska before then with 500 metres to go, launched her sprint, gapping the Polish rider straight away and as she rode down the finishing straight there was a gap between the two riders for the first time in the race. Storey crossed the line to become World Road Champion!
This was a truly fantastic race to watch and certainly gave the large lively crowd great entertainment in the town of Baie-Comeau. The finish area had a huge number of spectators, which was great to see at a Paracycling event. Storey adds this Road Race Gold to the Time trial Gold to become double World Champion!
British cycling spoke to Sarah after her fine ride "That was a great race to ride as riders were attacking from the start making it an aggressive race. At the start Anna (Harkowska) attacked and that set the tone for the race with action throughout. With it being a hard race, it played into my hands as I new I had the perfect preparation for the event, racing some pretty hard races with my team Horizon Fitness this year."
"As we went over the main climb each lap, I tried to push the pace and open some gaps between riders. Which went down to four riders to start with, then I distanced the two riders from USA. Going into the last lap, I was determined to try and put some time between myself and Anna. She hung on to my back wheel just and then I attacked with three kilometres to go. I thought though that it was a bit early and eased back before then sprinting away from her at 500 metres to go."
"Once I got in the finish straight I new the World Title was mine! It's brilliant to retain the title I won last year and this now brings my tally to 14 World titles in Swimming and cycling and number 8 in cycling!"
Read Sarah's diary about her race -- Click here
Result
1. Sarah STOREY (GBR)
2. Anna HARKOWSKA (POL)
3. Kelly CROWLEY (USA)
C3 Men’s Road Race - 57Km
Great Britain was represented by two riders in this race with Rik Waddon and Shaun McKeown. Both riders had a team plan for the race where they would try to work together to try and get Waddon into the final selection of the race.
As the race started it was looking like the team plan was being executed perfectly, with McKeown keeping Waddon in a good position in the main field and keeping the pace high at the same time. A few attacks came and went until the last two laps, where riders were starting to attack on the climb and make the race very difficult for Waddon and McKeown.
As the final lap started, three riders were away in a break and our riders were trying everything they could to bring the break back together. The front group of three riders stayed away though and then Waddon and McKeown sprinted into the finish in the second group finishing 6th and 9th respectively.
British Cycling spoke to Rik Waddon after the finish "That was a real team effort, with Shaun working really hard to keep me ready for the business end of the race. I was marking the Italian Vigano and tried to stay near him. Three riders then got away and we really tried to bring them back but just couldn't manage it. It was a really hard course and it was the right choice for me riding a compact chain set to help on the course."
British Cycling spoke to Shaun McKeown after the finish "I worked as hard as I possibly could for Rik, staying at the front and keeping him out of trouble, thats all I had to do in the plan we had and then tried to bring the three riders back that had escaped and then came in towards the back of the group. It was a really hard race."
Result
1. Stefan WARIAS (GER)
2. Roberto BARGNA (ITA)
3. Jacky GALLETAUD (FRA)
6. Rik WADDON (GBR)
9. Shaun McKEOWN (GBR)
