September 19/06 11:30 am - Silver Medal for Côté and Boily at World Handisport Championships

Posted by Editoress on 09/19/06
 

Stéphane Côté and Pierre-Olivier Boily Vice-World Champions
Courtesy Sportcom
Translated by Amanda Leigh Cox

Stéphane Côté and Pierre-Olivier Boily won the Silver medal (yesterday) in the tandem road race at the World Handisport Championships in Aigle, Switzerland. The Québécois duo were at 35 seconds from winner, Team Poland. While the latter were in a break-away for their winning title, Côté and Boily themselves made a get away at 2 K from the finish in the 104 K race.

The Silver represents a great deal for the two riders, as last January 10th Boily - the pilot of the team - was in a serious car accident and suffered multiple leg, pelvis, knee, and heel fractures. “The first thing I said to P-O (Pierre-Olivier Boily) was 'if I had said to you January 10th that you would finish second at the World Handisport Championships, would you have believed me?'” marveled Stephane Cote, adding that the race pace was 48 K / hr.

“We feel as though we have really succeeded. It's a wonderful way to close a season that has had so many detours.” Explained Boily, 'I have progressed steadily this summer; I knew I could ride well, but I still hadn't had a lot of tandem races in my legs yet. I was nervous at the start line since I wasn't 100% confident. While I was recovering, I didn't see myself on a bike before mid-August -thankfully that was not the case!” added Boily.

The Québécois duo attacked first at four laps to the finish ; with roughly 20 K to go, a group of five tandems broke away, including winners Team Poland, who attacked again in order to avoid getting swallowed by the main pack. AT that point, it seemed that any second place team would have to contend with a sprint finish, but Côté and Boily turned the tide in their favour. “At 2 K to the finish there was a viaduct which was the main climb on the circuit. During our pre-rides of the course, Pierre-Olivier and I decided that that was the best spot to attack, so when P-O got up on his pedals, I was really happy. We rode very economically and intelligently.”

“We still had another card up our sleeves during the race, and when we decided to play it, it worked out perfectly.” Added Boily. “We were either going to finish second or twentieth.”

Quevillon Seventh in CP3 Road Race
In the CP3 category, Sainte Adele, Quebec's Jean Quevillon, took seventh place in the road race. Finishing in the break-away, Quevillon, was at 4 minutes, 41 second from winner, Spanish rider Javier Ochoa, a name known to some via his previous Stage win in the Tour de France.