More than 300 athletes from 34 countries assembled at Ostend, on the North Sea in Belgium, for the second round of the UCI Para-cycling Road World Cup.
The flat and windy 8.3km circuit along the waterfront, typical of races in the north of Belgium, was no problem for the Germans who dominated proceedings with a total medal haul of 21, including 10 gold. Vico Merklein (H4) and Hans-Peter Durst (T2) made a major contribution to Germany’s success, both winning two gold medals.
The United States contingent made its mark in the Women’s C classes, with four gold medals: Allison Jones (C2), Jamie Withmore (C3) and Megan Fisher (C4) in the time trial and Shawn Morelli (C4) in the road race.
In the Men’s competitions, the Slovak Jozef Metelka (C4) is the only athlete who remains unbeaten since the beginning of the road season: after his double victory in the first round in Pietermaritzburg (South Africa) he again took two wins in Ostend.
In the tandem competition, the Dutch duo Vincent Ter Schure and his pilot Timo Fransen, and the Irish women Katie-George Dunlevy accompanied by Eve McCrystal, were the fastest.
The last round of the UCI Para-cycling Road World Cup will take place in the Pays Basque, Spain, from July 15 to 17.
There was no UCI Para-cycling Road World Cup event in the Pays Basque in 2015
…Helmets
Red, yellow, green, white…. para-cyclists racing at the UCI World Cup wear helmets of different colours for a reason: each colour represents a different category or sport class. This is important in races where several different sport classes set off together as it allows the athletes, spectators and officials to easily establish which of the participants are in direct competition.
For example, handcyclists in the H4 class wear a red helmet, while in the H2 class, women wear a yellow helmet and the men a blue helmet. Yellow, black, blue, white and red are used respectively for the Men’s and Women’s C1, C2, C3, C4 and C5 classes.
With 26 different sport classes, some colours are repeated. For example, red helmets are worn by the Men’s tandems as well as by H4 and C5 men and women, and T2 men.
Shawn Morelli is an American army veteran who was severely injured by an improvised explosive device in Afghanistan in 2007 (neck, nerve damage, brain trauma and blindness in her left eye.)
The C4 rider has UCI World Champion titles on the road and track, and last year took part in a para-cycling training camp at the UCI World Cycling Centre with three of her team-mates. She will surely be one to watch at Rio 2016.
Principal results
Road:
1st – 2015 UCI Para-cycling Road World Cup 1st – 2015 UCI Para-cycling Road World Championships, time trial 1st – 2015 UCI Para-cycling Road World Championships, road race
Track:
1st – 2016 UCI Para-cycling Track World Championships, pursuit 3rd – 2015 UCI Para-cycling Track World Championships, pursuit 5th - 2015 UCI Para-cycling Track World Championships, time trial.
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