The three rounds of the 2024 UCI Para-cycling Road World Cup will be particularly important this year as athletes prepare for further major confrontations: the Paris Paralympic Games from 28 August to 8 September followed just two weeks later by the combined UCI Road and Para-cycling Road World Championships in Zurich, Switzerland.
The season begins in earnest in Australia this weekend when Adelaide hosts the first round of the 2024 Para-cycling Road World Cup as part of the Santos Tour Down Under Festival. The world’s finest para-cyclists will then crank up their form further at rounds two and three, which take place 2-5 May and 16-19 May, respectively. These will be staged in Europe, with the exact locations to be confirmed. For now, we pinpoint a quintet of para-cycling stars who’ll be looking to leave their mark in Adelaide…
MEN’S B: BANGMA AND BOS STILL ON A ROLL?
One of the hottest attractions in Adelaide will be the Dutch superstars of tandem racing, Tristan Bangma and Patrick Bos. At the 2016 Summer Paralympics in Rio (Brazil), Bangma won gold in the 1km time trial on the track alongside pilot Teun Mulder. Five years later, at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics, he won his second track gold, this time in the individual pursuit, with Bos. The pair also won silver in the men’s road race.
Since then, they’ve stormed to further glory at UCI World Championships on the track and road, including in 2023 in Glasgow, Scotland (United Kingdom), where the Dutch dynamos broke the individual pursuit world record en route to winning gold, averaging over 60km/hr to clock a time of 3:58.766. They then beat compatriots Vincent ter Schure and pilot Timo Fransen on their way to time trial gold on the road.
WOMEN’S T1: AGE IS JUST A NUMBER
Canada’s Shelley Gautier (T1) is 54 years young and shows no signs of slowing down as she rolls into 2024 more than 15 years after claiming her first UCI World title. In that time, she’s been crowned UCI World Champion 18 times plus has a Paralympic time trial bronze medal from Rio 2016.
She has degrees in physical education and physical therapy, and in 2014 launched The Shelley Gautier Para-Sport Foundation, to “promote healthy and active lifestyles through adaptive physical activities for people with disabilities”. To that end, among many actions, her foundation looks to provide tandem bikes with a sighted pilot for people with visual impairments and used qualified volunteers to train individuals on hand cycles.
MEN’S C1: TEN ARGILES BACK FOR MORE
Spanish athlete Ricardo Ten Argilés began his Paralympic journey as a swimmer, winning three gold medals after making his debut at Atlanta 1996.
Now he has made a name for himself in para-cycling, which he took up at the end of the 2017 season, quickly becoming the man to beat in the C1 category. Though he missed out on an individual medal at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics, he won mixed team sprint C1-5 bronze.
Last year, Ten Argilés secured five medals at the UCI Cycling World Championships in Scotland: on the road in the time trial (gold), plus on the track in the scratch and omnium (gold), the individual pursuit (silver) and team sprint (bronze).
WOMEN’S C4: PETRICOLA ON HOME SOIL
Last April, Australia’s C4 star Emily Petricola was still recovering from physical setbacks:
“This year’s been about rebuilding. 2022 was not an awesome year for me physically. I got a back injury and had Covid, too. I struggled through the road and track worlds but, by then, my body had had enough from an MS perspective. So, I took a solid break. I started building base from the end of the year and am slowly growing stronger.”
Fast-forward to August 2023 and the Australian was posting this on Instagram: “Super World Championships is done and dusted for me! A gold medal in the IP [individual pursuit], and silver for both the road TT [time trial] and road race.”
Petricola’s resurgence has continued into 2024 with wins in the road race and time trial at the Australian National Championships. She is also an accomplished track cyclist, winning Paralympic gold in the C4 women’s individual pursuit in Tokyo.
MEN’S H4 CATEGORY: FRÜHWIRTH
Thomas Frühwirth’s upbringing on a farm in Austria instilled a strong work ethic which the athlete has applied to hand-cycling. The result? Three Paralympic medals: silvers in the time trial and road race in Tokyo following time trial silver from Rio 2016. He’s also won four UCI World Championships silvers, plus bronze in the road race at last year’s UCI Cycling World Championships in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland. Frühwirth has three European para-cycling gold medals to his name, and is also an accomplished triathlete: in 2022 he became the Hawaii Ironman course-record holder with an astonishing time of 8:15:39.
Guide to para-cycling sport classes
C – Cycle: conventional bike with adaptations if necessary
T – Tricycle: three-wheeled bike
B – Tandem: for visually impaired athletes with sighted pilot
H – Handcycle
Groups C (1-5), T (1-2) and H (1-5) are divided into different sport classes, with the lower the number indicating a higher level of impairment.