Paralympics: Mechanical forces Darke out of the running in hand-cycle road race

Paralympics: Mechanical forces Darke out of the running in hand-cycle road race

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A second gold was not to be for time trial gold medallist Karen Darke as she suffered a mechanical in her road race and was forced to retire.

The hand-cyclist had been in a leading group of seven riders as she came through the first check point but was unable to complete the course.

German rider Christiane Reppe took the title in the H1-2-3-4 road race in a time of 1:15.56, while Doyeon Lee picked up silver and Francesca Porcellato her second bronze of the 2016 Games.

Darke returned to Paralympic competition to win gold in the H1-2-3 time trial on Wednesday, after finishing in second place in London four years previously.

The field of 15 riders set off from on a 45km course, consisting of three loops of the beachside road.

A group of seven riders, containing Darke and time trial silver medallist Alicia Dana, developed a gap over around a minute and a half over the rest of the field during the first lap.

Karen Darke

The group had split once the leaders began their final lap with five riders, Lee, Reppe, Renata Kaluza, Dana and Porcellato, 90 seconds ahead of the chasing Huaxian Li of China.

Unfortunately Darke was forced to retire from the race on the second lap, following a mechanical issue with her hand-cycle. A knock to her back bumper made the bike unsafe to race by UCI standards and the British rider had no choice but to withdraw.

She said: “I'm obviously disappointed as I was sat comfortably in the bunch and felt good.

“Anything today would have been a bonus; yesterday's race was what it was all about and if you had told me I wouldn't finish the road race and would win gold in the time trial before the Games I would have taken it.”

The race came down to a sprint and Reppe of Germany beat off Lee and Porcellato, who both crossed the line two seconds behind the gold medallist.

Results

H1-2-3-4 road race