Italians impress to open Road World Cup

“I was under pressure because the people wanted me to win. But all of the fans along the road gave me a lot of strength.”

The 2013 UCI Para-cycling Road World Cup got underway this past weekend with the first round in Merano and Marlengo, Italy, where the host nation’s Claudia Schuler took a World Cup lead in the H2 class with victories in both the time trial and the road race.

Claiming both the time trial and the road race were impressive feats, as both courses offered significantly different challenges for the athletes. She captured the road race in a time of 1:29.34, beating out countrywoman Francesca Fenocchio.

“I was under pressure because the people wanted me to win,” said Schuler of competing in her home country. “But all of the fans along the road gave me a lot of strength.”

Local fan favorite Alex Zanardi, a former Formula 1 driver, was also a double-winner, taking the men’s H4 time trial and road race. Zanardi captured the road race in a time of 1:46:08 to narrowly defeat South Africa’s Ernst Van Dyk.

Among the other many winners among the different classifications from this past week’s event include Walter Ablinger of Austria, a world Paralympic road race Champion, who won the men’s road race and time trial in the H2 class. He captured the road race H2 in a time of 1:18:33, narrowly edging out France’s David Franek in a tightly contested competition.

“You had to be good technically in the road race and good at climbing in the time trial,” Ablinger said. “The road race was really great with top riders working together. We were one French rider, one Italian and one Austrian changing the lead every 200m.”

Germany’s Hans-Peter Durst, a Paralympic silver medallist in the time trial, won the men’s road race T2, after battling a slight illness during the race. Durst allowed his competition – Great Britain’s David Stone, a Paralympic road race champion, and Italy’s Giorgio Farroni, a Paralympic silver medallist - to pace the race before edging them out in a time of 50:09.

“I would like to thank them both for helping me,” Durst said. “I usually like to work more, but I was suffering from hay fever.”

Allison Jones, a Paralympic time trial champion and road race bronze medallist from the US, placed third in the women’s time trial C2, but came back to claim victory in the road race. The two-sport athlete who recently concluded her skiing season, won the C2 road race in 1:18:01.

“I’m only six weeks into my cycling season because I’ve come off my ski season,” Jones said. “I remind myself that I can go hard. I got beaten in the time trial on Friday, but I came back and told myself, ‘I can do it.’”

This past weekend’s event marked the second consecutive year in which the opening round of the UCI Para-cycling Road World Cup was contested in Italy, where more than 250 athletes representing 32 countries took part.

The UCI Para-cycling Road World Cup will continue in Segovia, Spain from 14-16 June and in Matane, Canada from 23-25 August. The 2013 UCI Para-cycling Road World Championships take place in Baie-Comeau, Canada from 29 August-1 September.