June 6/15 21:14 pm - Gautier and Croteau WIn Gold at Para World Cup in Italy

Posted by Editoress on 06/6/15
 

Canada's Shelley Gautier (WT1) and Marie-Ève Croteau (WT2) both raced to gold medals on Saturday in the first World Cup road races of the 2015 season, bouncing back from silver and bronze medals in Friday's time trial.

Gautier stopped the clock at 52:47 after 21.3 kilometres of racing the Women's T1 category, crossing the finish line 22 seconds before her closest competitor, Yulia Sibagatova of Russia.

Racing in the Women's T2 category, Croteau returns to the top of the podium after suffering from severe health issues, which began just before the 2012 Paralympic Games. Croteau showed a 20-second lead when crossing the finish line after 45:38 of racing.

Through her rehabilitation, Croteau showed impressive perseverance and determination. And today, the dividends paid off with the gold medal, perfectly following the strategy set forth by the coaching staff.

"Being aware of very limited training in January due to the serious health problem that I had, which deprived me of almost four months of training, I now find myself with two World Cup podiums," said Croteau. "Honestly, I admit that it was a difficult challenge to get here, but I was also trying not to apply that pressure on myself. With my coach Eric Van Den Eynde, we had goals and strategies. We are especially very happy with my road race, in which I applied our strategy to the letter. Thank you to all the staff of Cycling Canada."

The World Cup in Maniago ends Sunday with the rest of the road races.

Road Race Results

Women T1
1 Shelley Gautier (Canada), 52:47
2 Yulia Sibagatova (Russia), +0:22
3 Svetlana Perova (Russia), +10:38

Women T2
1 Marie-Eve Croteau (Canada), 45:38
2 Jana Majunke (Independant), +0:20
3 Hannah Dines (Great Britain), +0:25

Men H2
1 Luca Mazzone (Italy), 1:37:12
2 Tobias Fankhauser (Switzerland), +0:45
3 Christophe Hindricq (Belgium), +2:43

5 Robert Labbe (Canada), +12:07

Men H3
1 Max Weber (Independant), 1:45:32
2 Jean Francois Deberg (Belgium), s.t.
3 Riadh Tarsim (Independant), +0:06

9 Charles Moreau (Canada), +0:47

Men T2
1 Carlo Calcagni (Independant), 50:08
2 Hans-Peter Durst (Independant), +0:07
3 Goldy Fuchs (South Africa), +3:19

12 Louis-Albert Corriveau Jolin (Canada), +6:00