Great Britain finishes the para-cycling track competition at Glasgow’s Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome with more than double the number of medals than closest rivals, France.
Buoyed by a fervent home crowd, Team GB topped the para-cycling track medal table with 18 golds and 30 medals in total. France finished second on seven golds and 14 medals, while China finished third with five golds and 18 medals in total.
The para-cycling track programme wound up on Tuesday ahead of the road competitions starting tomorrow in Dumfries and Galloway. The para-cycling track and road are part of the UCI Cycling World Championships taking place in Glasgow and across Scotland (Great Britain).
Mixed C team sprint: China power through
The evening session started with the Mixed C1-5 team sprint, which saw China (Zhangyu Li, Guoqing Wu and Shanzhang Lai) facing Great Britain, whose trio comprised multiple male gold medallists from these UCI World Championships, Jaco van Gass and Jody Cundy, plus multiple Paralympic gold medallist Kadeena Cox, who won gold in Sunday’s Women C4 500m time trial.
The powerful Cox stormed out of the start gate to give the home nation a tenth of a second lead after the first lap. A lap later, however, China enjoyed a small lead. It was left for Lai and Cundy to fight it out over the final lap, and it was Lai and China who took the honours, to win by a third of a second in 47.914 seconds.
In the battle for bronze, Spain beat France.
Women’s scratch races: China, Great Britain and Germany celebrate
Five riders lined up for the Women C3 10km scratch race – Mel Pemble (CAN), Aniek van den Aarssen (NED), Richael Timothy (IRE), Amanda Antunes de Paiva (BRA) and Xiaomei Wang (CHN) – and it proved a tight affair for the majority of the race. De Paiva lost the pack and drifted back, leaving four riders in contention for three medals. After an unsuccessful attack at seven laps to go, Timothy made another move two laps from the finish and was still in the lead on the sound of the bell. But then China’s Wang stormed around everyone for an ultimately dominant gold. Pemble took silver – but wins the multi-race omnium - while Timothy settled for bronze.
The Women C1 and C2 scratch races were combined with all starters heading off at the same time, also for 10km.
In the Women C1 scratch race, Great Britain’s Frances Brown broke with 24 laps to go but was soon chased down by China’s Wangwei Qian. These two have been close rivals since the beginning of the UCI Worlds in Glasgow, finishing 1st (Qian) and 2nd (Brown) in the 500m time then reversing positions in the individual pursuit, won by the British rider. Their third meeting on the Sir Chris Velodrome saw Brown take the crown after cleverly tagging onto the tail of the leading C2 quartet. Qian won silver with countrywoman Jiafan Yang picking up bronze.
Thanks to their performances throughout the five days of competition, Brown and Qian finish first and second respectively in the Women C1 omnium.
While Brown and Qian dominated the C1 scratch race, the denser field in the C2 class couldn’t be separated until a decisive move from a quartet comprising Australia’s Amanda Reid, Germany’s Maike Hausberger, Switzerland’s Flurina Rigling and Colombia’s Daniela Munevar Florez. Those four stuck together as the bell went (with C1 Brown on their tail), which signalled Reid’s move over the top in search of her second gold and third medal of the meet. It appeared to be a winning move until Hausberger, already in possession of two bronze medals in Glasgow, flew down the finish straight to claim victory. Rigling won bronze.
Mixed B Team Sprint: Great Britain sign off in style
It seemed fitting that home rider Neil Fachie and his pilot Matthew Rotherham, alongside teammates Elizabeth Jordan and Amy Cole, won their third and Great Britain’s 18th gold medal of the UCI Para-cycling Track World Championships. The victory never looked in doubt as they beat the Italian team of Chiara Colombo and pilot Elena Bissolati, and Stefano Meroni and Francesco Ceci.
BRIEF EXPLANATION OF PARA-CYCLING SPORT CLASSES FOR THE TRACK
C – Cycle: conventional bike with adaptations if necessary
B – Tandem: for blind or visually impaired athlete with sighted pilot
Group C (1-5) is divided into different sport classes, with the lower the number indicating greater impairment.
Tomorrow sees the start of the para-cycling road programme in Dumfries and Galloway with the time trials.