August 22/10 0:05 am - Para-cycling Road World Championships: Day 3 report and photos

Posted by Editoress on 08/22/10
 

Two medals for Canada on the first day of the road races in Baie-Comeau

Photos
Men's H1 RR
Women's H2 RR
Men's H3 RR
Women's H3 RR
Women's H4 RR
Women's C4 RR
Men's H2 RR

Men's C1 RR

Men's C2 RR

More to come

Canada added two more medals to its count on Saturday at the Para-cycling World Championships, to bring its total to five in three days. Marie-Claude Molnar won the silver medal in the women's C4 category road race, and Mark Ledo took the bronze medal in the men's H3 (Handcycle) event. Other strong results include Jaye Milley finishing fifth in C1 and Mark Beggs also fifth in H2 (Handcycle). Defending H1 silver medalist Robert Labbé suffered a flat in the opening kilometres of his race, which neutral support was unable to service, and he had to drop out of his race.

In the women's 57 kilometre, five lap event, Molnar and American Megan Fisher dropped Australian Susan Powell on the main climb of the circuit and then worked together until the final 500 metres to maintain a gap on their rival. In the sprint finish, Fisher attacked first, and Molnar attempted to come around her, to no avail, finishing with the same time as the winner.

"We could tell that we were stronger [than Powell] on the climb," explained Molnar. We dropped her once and she came back up, then we dropped her again a lap later, and at that point we worked together to stay away. In the finish, I was on Megan's wheel, but she was just too strong for me. But, I'm very happy with this silver medal, because our category is much stronger this year, so it was a real battle to win it."

"I thank the entire Canadian team in its entirety. The staff at the Canadian Cycling Association, the coaches, physiotherapists, mechanics, and especially Eric (Vanden Eynde, head coach) that really helped a lot."

Mark Ledo is a newcomer to cycling, having represented Canada at the Beijing Paralympics in wheelchair athletics. He started cycling for training while rcovering from a hand injury, and has less than four months experience in the sport. Arkadiusz Skrzypinski of Poland took the gold medal in a sprint over Joël Jeannot of France, while Ledo won a similar battle ahead of Vico Merklein of Germany for bronze, 55 seconds behind the leaders.

"I knew that I was climbing well, but the other guys have maybe 20 pounds on me, and could come back on the descents," commented Ledo. "I dropped my chain on the third lap, which allowed the front two to get away, so I just had to conserve my energy for the sprint for third."

"I am super happy. To be honest, it was kind of expected, especially for this course, this land. There are lots of climbs and hills, and this is my forte, where I really excel versus the other guys. I've done Athletics for eight years, and the transition was super easy from wheelchair racing to cycling. The progression on the bike came really natural. I do work hard every time I train."

Morning results

Afternoon results