September 12, 2008 (Beijing, China) — Jean Quévillon of Ste-Adèle, Que., was Canada’s top rider in Friday’s time trials as the road portion of the para-cycling competition got underway at the Paralympic Games.

In the men’s 24.8 kilometre time trial in the CP3 category for athletes with cerebral palsy, Javier Ochoa of Spain took the gold in 37 minutes and 26.47 seconds. Darren Kenny of Britain was second in 37:38.42 and Yong-Ski Jin of South Korea third in 38:45.83.

Quévillon, a bronze medalist earlier this week in track cycling, took fifth spot in 41:42.97.

“To be honest, I didn’t feel ready for the race,” said Quévillon. “We cycled the course twice in training yesterday (Thursday) but it wasn’t enough for me to get a good feel for it. It was a demanding course with a lot of turns and there were areas I was forced to put on the brakes.”

There were five more top-10 Canadian performances in the time trials. Rico Morneau of Ste-Martine, Que., and Mark Beggs of Montreal were ninth and 10th in men’s hand cycling; Eric Bourgault of Orford, Que., was ninth in the LC2 category, Shauna Whyte of Hinton, Alta., was ninth in the women’s hand cycling event and Geneviève Ouellet of Amos, Que., and her guide Mathilde Hupin of Bromont, Que., were 10th in the women’s race for visually impaired.

Whyte, a three-time winter Paralympian in cross country skiing and biathlon, marked her return to competition after giving birth almost exactly one year ago. She battled equipment problems as her chain came off twice.

“It was frustrating,” said Whyte, in her summer Games debut. “That took a lot momentum out of the race for me. But overall I’m satisfied. They combined classes in this event now which makes it even harder for me to battle for the medals. And it was really nice to comeback into the competition, I really missed it.”

In the men’s race for visually impaired, Daniel Chalifour of Lac-des-Écorces, Que., and his guide Alexandre Cloutier of Quebec City were 11th, Stéphane Côté of Quebec City and Pierre-Olivier Boily of Roberval, Que., were 13th and Brian Cowie of Burnaby, B.C., and Devon Smibert of Calgary were 15th.

Competition continues Saturday.