Disability World Championships
Road Races, Day 1
August 26, 2007; France
A Gold medal for Rachel Morris and a broken collarbone for Simon Richardson sums up the day for Great Britain in France today.
Hand Cycling – Women
This event, held in temperatures well into the 30’s was hot on all counts as the C category hand cyclists made it head for the B category riders including Rachel Morris. The British girl, already a Gold medal winner explained to British Cycling how it all went … my race was held on the same circuit as the Time Trial, four laps making 42 kilometres.”
“It was a really cool circuit, definitely not boring. We were all together for the first lap and then the majority of the C category competitors got away from me on the hills and I then used the hills and flat to break up my group and take chunks of time out of them. Its been so exciting racing here, really wicked. It’s been cool being part of the team as well and doing things together as a team.”
B Category
1. MORRIS Rachel HC B 1 GBR 01:39:40
2. LECKIE Melissa HC B 2 AUS 01:43:57
3. DONALDSON Anne Marie HC B 3 NZL 01:54:35
Hand Cycling -- Men
A mixed day for the male British competitors in the hand cycling competition. IN the C category, Ian Marsden was involved in crash on the first lap, damaging his hand cycling and taking him out of the event. In the B category, Chris Madden managed to keep out of trouble which caused problems a number of the Brits today but Chris finished outside the medals (15th).
B Cat
1. WEBER Max GER 01:31:54
2. MAALOUF Edward LIB 01:31:55
3. BÄUMANN Stefan GER 01:31:58
15. MADDEN Christopher GBR 01:41:48
LC1 Men
In this event, Great Britain went into the race of 40 or so with the maximum three competitors, Mark Bristow who won Bronze in 2006, Gary Williams and Russell White. The race started flat out and an early break with one of the race favourites soon got away, gaining two minutes at its maximum.
Austrian Elite rider though Wolfgang Eibeck wasn’t going to let them get away and he got on the front and drove the peloton for two laps and succeeded in bringing the race back together. Russell White helped in this work and once the junction had been made, left it to Bristow who was the team’s key rider.
Team coach Chris Furber explained “Mark did his job well, hiding away in the bunch and keeping out of trouble – conserving his energy should it come down to a bunch sprint. When the race came back together, he was perfectly placed for the sprint but with 5k to go, a French rider clipped off and gained 30 seconds whilst the rest watched each other”.
“The French rider stayed away all the way to the line to take the Gold and in the sprint for Silver and Bronze, Mark was in a great position with 100 to go but ran out of gas as he approached the line and was overtaken by about eight guys on the line!”
1. MERCIER David FRA 02:01:42
2. CHLEBO Patrik SVK 02:02:14
3. EIBECK Wolfgang AUT 02:02:14
12. BRISTOW Mark GBR 02:02:21
23. ROSBOTHAM-WILLIAM Gary GBR 02:11:29
LC3 Men
This ended in disaster for GB’s lone competitor in this, Simon Richardson. He was involved in a nasty accident two thirds of the way though his race and broke his collarbone. Out best wishes to Simon and a speedy recovery!
LC2 Men
Jody Cundy, known for his sprint speed, was put into this race in the hope the bunch stayed together and he could use his speed to do something at the end. It wasn’t to be however as the pace was high from the word go as the Czechs went onto the attack and split the race into small pieces. Jody ended up in no-mans land and eventually retired.
