A nine-strong Great Britain Cycling Team travel to Emmen, Netherlands for the final UCI Para-cycling Road World Cup of the season before August’s UCI Para-cycling Road World Championships in South Africa.
The team will compete over three days from Friday to Sunday across the time trials and road races.
As well as aiming for the podium, the event will give riders the chance to stake their claim for a spot at the world championships.
The team
Louis Rolfe and Megan Giglia will return to action for the Great Britain Cycling Team for the first time since their gold medal-winning exploits at the Paralympics in Rio in 2016.
Giglia, who became a British track champion for the first time in her career in January, missed the UCI Para-cycling Track World Championships in Los Angeles, to divert her attention to the road in 2017.
Giglia has dominated the C3 classification on the track over the last 18 months, winning Paralympic gold and becoming a double world champion but has not been able to assert that same dominance on the road.
Rolfe finds himself in a similar position to Giglia having become a Paralympic and world champion on the track in 2016. Rolfe competed on the road in Rio, finishing in seventh place in the men’s C2 time trial and will be looking to build on that performance as he aims to become a force on the road and the track for Tokyo 2020.
Lora Fachie and her pilot Corrine Hall are also reunited for the first time since Rio. The pair enjoyed success on the road in 2016, winning a bronze medal in the time trial and picking up two silver medals in the world cup in Ostend in May 2016.
Both riders also enjoyed success earlier this year at the 2017 UCI Para-cycling Track World Championships with Hall winning three world titles alongside stoker Sophie Thornhill and Fachie picking up a silver medal alongside Hazel MacLeod.
Steve Bate and his pilot Adam Duggleby will look to follow up their fine start to their 2017 season and add to the time trial gold medal they won in Maniago, while Mel Nicholls will also be hoping to build on her medal winning exploits in Ostend.
Simon Price will be hoping he does not fall victim to misfortune after he was caught up in a crash that ended his chances in the road race in Maniago while Liz Saul will be looking to build on two sixth place finishes at the same event.
Podium potential rider, Will Bjergfelt, will travel to Emmen as an independent rider, after representing the Great Britain Cycling Team at the first two world cups of the season in Maniago and Ostend.
Courses
Emmen is a town situated in the north east of the Netherlands with Emmen arising from several small farming and peat-harvesting communities.
One of the town’s biggest tourist attractions is the zoo which attracts over 1.5 million visitors a year.
The time trial course features an 8.6km lap with riders completing one, two or three laps depending on their classifications and will start just outside the Sportpark Meerdijk, the home of Emmen FC who play in the second division of the Dutch league.
The road race course is slightly shorter at 7.1 km with riders facing distances ranging from three laps (men’s T1, women’s T1-2 and H1-2 riders) to ten laps (men’s tandem pairs)
Schedule (UK times)
Friday 30 June: time trials
9.30am
Men’s C2: Simon Price, Louis Rolfe
Women’s C3: Megan Giglia
Women’s C4: Liz Saul
12.30pm
Women’s H3: Mel Nicholls
3.45pm
Men’s B tandem: Steve Bate and Adam Duggleby
Women’s B tandem: Lora Fachie and Corrine Hall
Saturday 1 July: road races
12.00pm
Women’s H2-5: Mel Nicholls
Sunday 2 July: road races
8.02am
Men’s C1/2: Simon Price, Louis Rolfe
11.32am:
Women’s C4-5: Liz Saul
Women’s C1-3: Megan Giglia
3.00pm
Men’s B tandem: Steve Bate and Adam Duggleby
3.02pm
Women’s B tandem: Lora Fachie and Corrine Hall
How to follow
- Follow @BritishCycling on Twitter for updates from racing in Belgium.
- Follow @BritishCycling on Instagram.
- Reports and reaction from races on the British Cycling website.
