There was double gold medal success as part of a three-medal haul for the Great Britain Cycling Team on the opening day of the final UCI Para-cycling Road World Cup of the season in Pietermaritzburg.
Stoker Stephen Bate and pilot Adam Duggleby won their first gold medal at world cup level in the men’s tandem time-trial after an excellent performance.
The duo's performance saw them finish over ten seconds clear of American pairing Aaron Scheides and Benjamin Collins in a time of 29:49.58 over 24km.
Over the moon to win the World Cup TT today with @loraturnham in South Africa! Now onto the road race Sunday! pic.twitter.com/rNxmfXdLsm
— Corrine Hall (@Corrinehall) September 11, 2015
This was quickly followed by the team’s second medal of the day as Lora Turnham and Corrine Hall claimed their second world cup time-trial gold of the year in the women’s tandem time-trial.
Their margin of victory was much closer, finishing in 34:44.15, just 0.09 seconds clear of the Dutch riders Odette Van Deudekom and Kim Van Dijk.
@BritishCycling there are a lot of people back home who never get a mention who give so much. This ones for you guys! pic.twitter.com/DoJCRNgSsv
— Stephen'Stanley'Bate (@kiwistevebate) September 11, 2015
Karen Darke then added silver in the H3 time trial, over two minutes slower than American Alicia Dana on the 16-kilometre course.
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There were a number of other riders in action as they look to secure vital Rio Paralympic qualification points. Jon Gildea (C5) finished in fifth place , Jaco Van Gass (C4) was eighth and David Smith (C3) finished ninth in as he continues his recovery from neck surgery.
Craig McCann and Hannah Dines both finished in 5th place in their respective T2 races while Liz Saul (C4) and Simon Price (C2) finished in fourth place. Sally Hurst finished in third place but didn’t medal after finishing outside the time limit.
