Jetze Plat kickstarts the Netherlands’ run of four golds on day one of the para-cycling road programme at the 2023 UCI Cycling World Championships
One door closes, another one opens. Last night, the para-cycling track programme of the 2023 UCI Cycling World Championships came to a close in Glasgow. Today saw the start of the para-cycling road programme in Dumfries & Galloway, also as part of the multi-discipline UCI Cycling World Championships taking place in Glasgow and across Scotland through until 13 August.
The para-cycling road competitions began with individual time trials (ITT) for the handcycle and tricycle sport classes, where the Netherlands demonstrated their strength.
Plat wins his 11th UCI World title
Dutchman Jetze Plat is an accomplished para-cyclist who won both the H4 time trial and H4 road race at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics. Also a successful triathlete and marathoner, the 32-year-old came into the competition with 10 para-cycling UCI World Champion titles to his name, including two from last year in Baie-Comeau, Canada.
Nevertheless, his rivals in Dumfries were not going to bow down without a fight. France’s Mathieu Bosredon delivered a superb effort over the 17km parcours to take the lead in 24:31.73. That pushed countryman Joseph Fritsch into second and Austria’s Thomas Frühwirth – also one of Plat’s triathlon rivals - into third.
Plat was on the course at the same time as Bosredon and dug deep in search of his 11th rainbow jersey. It was no formality, and Plat looked exhausted at the finish. He had given his all to complete the course just over eight seconds faster than Bosredon, and take another gold.
Plat will also be competing in the road race on Friday.
It was double Dutch delight soon after, as Mitch Valize retained the Men H5 time trial titles that he won in Cascais, Portugal, in 2021 and Baie-Comeau, Canada, in 2022. Valize also won this category at the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics and has won all the UCI Para-cycling World Cup events this season. Suffice to say, he started the 17km time trial as clear favourite and justified that moniker as he eclipsed teammate Tim de Vries’ leading time by an astonishing one minute and 22 seconds for another gold. De Vries settled for silver while France’s Loïc Vergnaud won bronze.
Dutch women match men’s success
The Dutch made it three victories in a row soon after as Chantal Haenen stormed to Women H5 gold in 29:52.88, ahead of Germany’s Andrea Eskau and Italy’s Ana Maria Vitelaru in third. Haenen, also a rower, looked in total control as she added to her 2021 time trial triumph in Portugal.
What an afternoon it was for the Netherlands, as 55-year-old Jennette Jansen continued to show that age is no barrier to success, dominating the Women H4 ITT from start to finish, crossing the line in 31:30.41. South Korea’s Lee Doyeon, 47 seconds back, won silver with Italy’s Giulia Ruffato winning bronze.
Jansen’s commitment to elite sport is legendary: she won her first Paralympic gold medal in para-athletics, at the Seoul 1988 Paralympics! She also went to three Paralympics in basketball and won para-cycling road race bronze in Rio 2016.
Clement’s correct sporting decision
Elsewhere, Canada’s Nathan Clement won the Men T1 ITT ahead of China’s Jianxin Chen and Rongfei Lu, who finished second and third, respectively. It’s quite a turnaround for Clement who retired from swimming in 2018 and was going to leave the world of competitive sport behind. Then the Covid-19 pandemic came along, resulting in Clement undertaking a 1,000km bike trek across his home province. The competitive fires were relit, he focused on tricycling and won two silver medals at last year’s UCI World Championships in his home country. Now, he’s gone one better… and will look to go one better again in the road race later in the week.
Another performance of note came from Pavlína Vejvodová who won the Women T1 event, and in so doing the Czech Republic’s first medal of any colour in the para-cycling programme at the 2023 UCI Cycling World Championships.
Competition continues tomorrow with the individual time trials in the C and B sporting classes.
Full results and live timing on the UCI website.
Brief explanation of para-cycling sport classes
C – Cycle: conventional bike with adaptations if necessary
T – Tricycle: three-wheeled bike
B – Tandem: for blind or visually impaired athlete 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 greater impairment.