While French athletes won the most golds (three) on Sunday, the Netherlands finished the championships at the top of the overall medals table.
Trois is the magic number for France
It was a 1-2 for the French in the 70.2km C2 road race, when Alexandre Leaute held off countryman Florian Chapeau to win gold by 9secs. Belgium’s Ewoud Vroman took bronze. At just 21 years old, Leaute added his gold medal to the silver he had won in the time trial two days earlier, confirming the form he demonstrated at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics where he won four medals (gold, silver and two bronze).
France’s Kevin Le Cunff added C5 road race gold to his time trial bronze in an astonishing race requiring a photo finish to separate the top four riders, who all finished in 2hrs. Brazil’s Lauro Cesar Mouro Chaman (BRA) won silver with Australia’s Alistair Donohoe taking bronze.
Marie Patouillet completed a hat-trick for France in the women’s C5 category and in the process prevented Kerstin Brachtendorf (GER) from winning double gold in Canada after another photo finish, both para-cyclists registering 1:58:42. New Zealand’s Nicole Murray won bronze in 1:58:44.
Netherlands top standings
The Netherlands enjoyed a relatively quiet final day by their high standards, but finished in style, with Tristan Bangma and pilot Patrick Bos winning the MB road race, the final event of the 2022 UCI Para-cycling Road World Championships. Their victory took the Dutch gold-medal tally to 11 over the four days of competition.
Bangma and Bos have won every tandem event they’ve competed in this season including Friday’s time trial. That was added to two Olympic golds on the track: in the 1km time trial and individual pursuit at the 2016 and 2020 Paralympics, respectively.
Ireland at the double
The men’s C4 81.9km road race proved arguably the most exciting race of the four-day festival of para-cycling with a photo finish needed to separate the top-five riders, who all finished in 2:04:31. After a long wait, Ireland’s Ronan Grimes got the decision for a memorable gold. Belgium’s Louis Clincke finished second with Great Britain’s George Peasgood adding bronze to his C4 time trial gold.
The victory wrapped up a superb championships for Grimes, who was third in the C4 time trial on Friday. Grimes has enjoyed a step up in performance since 2021, when he took the bronze medal in the UCI Para-cycling Road World Championships road race and fourth in the time trial, as well as fourth in the C4 individual pursuit at the Paralympics.
Ireland’s Katie-George Dunlevy and pilot Eve McCrystal exacted revenge on the British pairing of Sophie Unwin and Jenny Holl with victory in the WB road race. Dunlevy and McCrystal finished second behind the Brits in the time trial but broke free on the penultimate lap to add to their three Paralympic gold medals.
Elsewhere, Spain’s Ricardo Ten Argiles dominated the 70.2km C1 road race, winning in a time of 1:50:07. The 47-year-old finished nearly five minutes ahead of second-placed Aaron Keith (USA) with Carlos Alberto Gomes Soares in third.
Great Britain’s Finlay Graham overcame the disappointment of missing out on C3 time trial gold on Friday by going one better in the C3 category thanks to a time of 1:49:31. Steffen Warias (GER) won silver with Spain’s Eduardo Santas Asensio winning bronze. Britain enjoyed further success when Frances Brown won the C1 road race in 1:46:17 with Australia’s Kaitlyn Schurmann capturing silver.
Maike Hausberger (GER) won her second gold of the 2022 UCI Para-cycling Road World Championships in the C2 category in a time of 1:45:31 to help her country finish second in the overall standings. It was swap-shop for the other medals as time trial bronze medallist, Colombia’s Daniela Carolina Munvear Florez, took silver with time trial silver medallist, Switzerland’s Flurina Rigling, winning bronze.
Keiko Suguira won Japan’s first gold medal of the championships with victory in the C3 road race, her time of 1:45:28 enough to hold off the USA’s Clara Brown (1:45:30) with fellow USA para-cyclist Jamie Whitmore in third.
The USA’s Samantha Bosco won C4 gold in 2:00:05, over 3mins ahead of second-placed Mel Lemon (AUS). Canada’s Keely Shaw won bronze in 2:03:29.
Brief explanation of para-cycling sport classes
C – Cyclist: conventional bike with adaptations if necessary
T – Tricycle: three-wheeled bike
B – Visually impaired: tandem bicycle ridden with sighted pilot
H – Handbike
Each group is divided into different sport classes (1 to 5), with the lower the number indicating greater impairment.