Nine countries win UCI para-cycling road world titles

Saturday's 12 time trial world titles in Greenville, USA, were spread across nine countries with Germany and USA winning two apiece. 31 Aug 2014
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Germany's Andrea Eskau recevies her gold medal after winning the women's H4 road race at the London 2012 Paralympic Games at Brands Hatch.

Germany's Andrea Eskau recevies her gold medal after winning the women's H4 road race at the London 2012 Paralympic Games at Brands Hatch.

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By IPC and US Paralympics

Athletes from Germany and USA won two gold medals apiece on Saturday (30 August), day three of the 2014 UCI Para-Cycling Road World Championships in Greenville, South Carolina, USA, as 12 time trial world titles were awarded.

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Andrea Eskau (29:19.70), who won two Nordic skiing gold medals for Germany at the Sochi 2014 Paralympic Winter Games, took gold in the women’s H5 time trial. She beat the Netherlands’ Laura de Vann (29:34.48) and teammate Dorothee Vieth (30:15.36) into silver and bronze respectively.

Germany’s second gold of the day was added by Hans-Peter Durst (28:31.15) in the men’s T2. The USA’s Ryan Boyle (29:59.37), a student at the nearby Furman University, enjoyed the hometown advantage as he took silver in his first World Championships. Great Britain’s David Stone (30:33.03) took bronze.

For the hosts, rainbow jerseys were won by Will Groulx and Alicia Dana.

Groulx (29:28.31), a three-time Paralympic medallist in wheelchair rugby, won his first para-cycling world title in the men’s H2 time trial after he beat his closest competitor, Italy’s Luca Mazzone (29:54.51), by more than 26 seconds. It was Groulx's second medal of the week after helping the U.S. team to finish second in Thursday’s handcycle relay. Ireland’s Mark Rohan (31:16.53) took the bronze.

“Everyone out here racing works incredibly hard at what we do with being the best in the world the ultimate goal for everyone out here,” Groulx said. “To realize that at the end and to see that all of the work that you've put in it culminate with a world title, it’s a pretty fantastic feeling.”

Alicia Dana (31:56.04) earned her world title as she won the women’s H3 race, beating Great Britain’s Karen Darke (32:12.95) by more than 16 seconds. Bronze went to Poland’s Renata Kaluza (33:27.14).

“It felt really great. I've been looking forward somewhat anxiously for this event for quite a while. It felt great to be able to get out there and race. It was a super tough race. It was hot, and it was humid, but I was prepared to suffer.”

One of the most high profile winners on Saturday was Italy’s Alex Zanardi (25:21.98) in the men’s H5 class, his second gold of the Championships. The two-time Paralympic champion finished ahead of South Africa’s Ernst van Dyk (25:52.95) and the Netherlands’ Tim de Vries (25:57.26).

Other men’s titles on Saturday were won by France’s Quentin Aubague (18:25.66) in the T1 class, Poland’s Rafal Wilk (25:16.47) in the H4 class and Switzerland’s Heinz Frei (25:54.70), who just edged out Italy’s Vittorio Podesta by six seconds, to claim gold in the H3 class.

In the women’s events, there were wins for Canada’s Shelley Gautier (21:10.68) in the T1, Australia’s Carol Cooke (31:23.46) in the T2, South Africa’s Justine Asher (48:49.85) in the H2 and South Korea’s Doyeon Lee (30:51.50) in the H4 class.

Competition will continue on Sunday (31 August) with the cycle and tandem road races. The remainder of the event will be live through Sept. 1 at USParalympics.org. Complete results are available at Greenville2014.org.