August 31, 2014 (Greenville/SC, USA) – The fourth day of competition at the 2014 UCI Para-Cycling Road World Championships featured the road races for the C and B classes. The reunited women’s tandem of Robbi Weldon (Thunder Bay, ON) and Lyne Bessette (Bromont, QC) posted Canada’s top performance of the day, in ninth place, crossing the finishing line a mere 4 seconds off the winning time after more than two hours of racing.
The race for the two Canadian tandems entered in the event was influenced by the unfortunate puncture around mid-race of Shawna Ryan (Saskatoon, SK) and Audrey Lemieux (Montreal, QC) which left the Weldon/Bessette tandem to fend for themselves. Had it not been for this puncture effectively taking Canada’s second team out of the race, the outcome could have been quite different.
The men tandem of Matthieu Croteau-Daigle (Thetford Mines, QC) and Pierre-Olivier Boily (Sherbrooke, QC) finished in ninth place, in the sprinting among eight other tandems for the bronze medal.
The men’s race unfolded with an early break from the eventual winners that quickly took more than a minute on the rest of the field. With three laps to go of the 10-lap race, the French tandem caught up to the leaders, meaning that this 2-tandem breakaway had enough fuel to stay away from a peloton seemingly content with racing for the third position. The Croteau-Daigle/Boily tandem attacked with two laps to go, but their attempt was trumped by a reaction from the peloton.
Canada’s second tandem made up of Alexandre Carrier (Bromont, QC) and Aroussen Laflamme (St-Augustin-de-Desmaures, QC) was looking very solid and were covering attacks, but with one lap to go, the heat took its toll, and they eventually lost contact with the main field.
Nicole Clermont (Sherbrooke, QC) posted another excellent performance for Canada, taking the fifth position in the women C5 race, just 40 seconds off the winning time which was posted by Sarah Storey (GBR), a multiple Paralympic Games champion. Ross Wilson (Sherwood Park, AB) ended his first World Championships with a good result in seventh place of the men C1 race.
The event comes to an end Monday with the presentation of the road races for the T and H categories. Shelley Gautier, the reigning World Champion, is a strong hopeful for her second World Title of the weekend in the T1 class, while Marie-Eve Croteau will also be in contention for a medal, in the T2 race. In the H4 class, Mark Ledo is vying for the top honours as his speciality is the road race event.
Results
Women Tandem
1. Lora Turnham/Corrine Hall Corrine (Great Britain) 2:08:28
2. Katie-George Dunlevy/Eve Mccrystal Eve (Ireland)
3. Jozefa Benitez Guzman/Judit Masdeu Cort Judit (Spain)
9. Robbi Weldon/Lyne Bessette (Canada) 2:08:32
DNF Shawna Ryan/Audrey Lemieux (Canada)
Women C4
1. Shawn Morelli (Usa) 1:32:52
2. Susan Powell (Australia)
3. Jianping Ruan (China)15:58
6. Marie-Claude Molnar (Canada) -1 Lap
Women C5
1. Sarah Storey (Great Britain) 1:32:12
2. Anna Harkowska (Poland) 0:01
3. Mariela Delgado Analia (Argentina) 0:01
5. Nicole Clermont (Canada) 0:40
Men Tandem
1. Carlos Gonzalez Garcia/Noel Martin Infante Noel (Spain) 2:23:07
2. Damien Debeaupuits/Mickaël Dhinnin Mickaël (France)
3. Rinne Oost/Cor Van Leeuwen Cor (Netherlands) 2:49
9. Matthieu Corteau-Daigle/Pierre-Olivier Boily Pierre-Olivier (Canada) 2:49
Men C1
1. Pierre Senska (Germany) 1:32:14
2. Michael Teuber (Germany)
3. Arnoud Nijhuis (Netherlands)
7. Ross Wilson (Canada) 9:00
9. Jaye Milley (Canada) 13:49
Men C3
1. Eoghan Clifford (Ireland) 1:47:46
2. Steffen Warias (Germany) 1:52
3. Fabio Anobile (Italy)
10. Michael Sametz (Canada)