Commonwealth champions Neil Fachie and Craig MacLean won gold in the men’s tandem kilo to kick start the Great Britain Cycling Team at the Newport Para-cycling International.
Stoker Fachie and pilot MacLean, winners of two gold medals for Scotland in Glasgow last year, completed the four laps in 1:02.251.
The Netherlands collected silver and Spain bronze while the Great Britain Cycling Team’s other pairing – Steve Bate and Adam Duggleby – were eighth in a time of 1:08.988.
“I think on the whole it was a good race,” said 30-year-old Fachie.
“There are a few areas where we can improve but that's always the case though, as an athlete you are always picking holes in it but for this time of year and where we are at, I think it is pretty solid.”
“It's not bad,” added MacLean. “It's not the fastest track, on a better track I think we could have gone sub-one minute and two seconds.”
World champions Sophie Thornhill and Rachel James collected silver in the women’s tandem kilo as the Dutch pairing of Larissa Klaassen and Haliegh Dolman produced a surprise in south Wales.
Their time of 1:09.272 was less than three-tenths faster than the British duo’s 1:09.302, while pilot Thornhill and partner James will have the opportunity to go one better in the sprint and pursuit disciplines.
There were a further two medals in the mixed team sprint as Britain fielded two squads.
Louis Rolfe, Jaco van Gass and Jon Gildea pushed world champions Spain hard but had to settle for silver, exactly one second slower than the world record holder’s time of 51.896 seconds.
Crystal Lane, Craig Preece and Jody Cundy were comfortably quicker than Germany in the bronze-medal final, completing the three laps in 53.788 seconds to leave the Great Britain Cycling Team with four medals after the first day of racing.
On Saturday, the C1-5 men’s pursuit, men’s and women’s tandem pursuits, and C1-5 women’s 500m time trial take place at the Wales National Velodrome.
Results
