September 12, 2015 (Pietermaritzburg, RSA) – The 2015 UCI Para-Cycling World Cup Finals got underway today in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa, with the last time trial of the season. Four Canadian cyclists raced to the podium, including a dominating victory by Shelley Gautier.

Gautier, who won today her first World Cup time trial of the season, powered her way up to the top spot, showing close to a four-minute lead over her closest competition and season rival, Yulia Sibagatova of Russia.

Leading the World Cup standings heading into this event, Sibagatova amassed enough points today to finish the season at the top of the standings, earning the white jersey.

Nicole Clermont continued her successful season racing to the second place of the women C5 Class. Clermont enjoyed tremendous success in 2015, stepping on the podium in each but one World Cup race. With the second place in today’s time trial race, Clermont cemented her third place in the UCI World Cup standings. In her class, Anna Harkowska of Poland took the victory and remains perfect in seven races this season.

In the women’s tandem time trial race, Robbi Weldon and Audrey Lemieux took the third place and grabbed the bronze medal. The duo posted their top performance since the duo was formed earlier this season. The Canadians crossed the finish line with a time of 36:09.86, just over 1:25 after the winners. In this class, the first and second positions were separated by a mere 0.09s, an extremely narrow margin after 24 km of racing.

Marie-Claude Molnar finished her day in the third position today, earning her fourth podium result in five races this season.

Results

Women T1
1. Shelley Gautier (CANADA) 20:28.53
2. Yulia Sibagatova (RUSSIA) 3:52.36
3. Bianca Woolford (AUSTRALIA) 5:59.05

Women C5
1. Anna Harkowska (POLAND) 25:18.78
2. Nicole Clermont (CANADA) 0:28.08
3. Kerstin Brachtendorf (GERMANY) 0:33.86

Women B
1. Lora Turnham / Corrine Hall (GREAT BRITAIN) 34:44.15
2. Odette van Deudekom / Kim van Dijk (NETHERLANDS) 0.09
3. Robbi Weldon / Audrey Lemieux (CANADA) 1:25.71

Women C4
1. Shawn Morelli (USA) 25:44.44
2. Susan Powell (AUSTRALIA) 0:58.63
3. Marie-Claude Molnar (CANADA) 1:35.30

Women T2
1. Carol Cooke (AUSTRALIA) 31:58.15
2. Jill Walsh (USA) 2:05.92
3. Jana Majunke (GERMANY) 3:49.38

4. Marie-Eve Croteau (CANADA) 4:18.31

Men B
1. Stephen Bate / Adam Duggleby (GREAT BRITAIN) 29:49.58
2. Aaron Scheidies / Benjamin Collins (USA) 00:10.67
3. Carlos Gonzales Garcia / Noel Martin Infante (SPAIN) 0:14.31

7. Alexandre Carrier / Aroussen Laflamme (CANADA) 2:11.65

Men C5
1. Steffen Warias (GERMANY) 34:22.12
2. Eduardo Santas Asensio (SPAIN) 0:27.56
3. Sergey Ustinov (RUSSIA) 0:50.39

5. Michael Sametz (CANADA) 1:05.01

Men H3
1. Heinz Frei (SWITZERLAND) 26:59.04
2. Walter Ablinger (AUSTRIA) 0:38.42
3. Jean Francois Deberg (BELGIUM) 0:56.67

5. Charles Moreau (CANADA) 1:30.04