August 29, 2013 (Baie-Comeau, QC) — Canada opened the 2013 Para-Cycling Road World Championships with two medals in this first day of time trials, with Shelley Gautier of Toronto, ON establishing herself as the World’s best T1 racer and Marie-Ève Croteau of Québec, QC taking the silver medal as she continues her come-back to racing after spending more than ten months off the bike following an injury.
Gautier earned the coveted rainbow jersey award to the World Champion in the T1 time trial race, completing the course with a time of 22:43. In doing so, Gautier successfully defended her title won last year at these same World Championships.
In the T2 time trial race, the reigning World Champion Marie-Ève Croteau finished second in the race, a solid result for her as she has been off her training plan following an injury that forced her to the sideline for over ten months as she recovered. Croteau tackled the difficult course and posted a time of 17:39 for the silver medal.
In the men’s H2 race, Charles Moreau of Trois-Rivières, QC posted his career best international result in his time trial with a sixth place, showing exceptional progress in his first year on the Canadian high performance team. Mark Beggs of Montreal, QC came in eleventh.
Louis-Albert Corriveau-Jolin of Ste-Claire, QC came seventh of the men’s T2 race.
Veteran para-cyclist Robert Labbé of Québec, QC rolled to the tenth position of the men’s H1 race.
Mark Ledo of Maple, ON did not finish the H3 race as he crashed in a turn. Ledo did not suffer major injuries and is expected to be on the start line for the road race.
The event continues Friday with the last set of time trial races. The mass-start road races will be featured on Saturday and Sunday in Baie-Comeau, which also hosted the same event in 2010.
Results
Women T1
1. Shelley Gautier (Canada) 22:43.60
2. Bianca Woolford (Australia) 2:06.20
Women T2
1. Carol Cooke (Australia) 16:30.15
2. Marie-Eve Croteau (Canada) 1:09.04
3. Jana Majunke (Germany) 2:34.75
Men H1
1. Luca Mazzone (Italy) 34:45.26
2. Mark Rohan (Ireland) 1:10.23
3. William Groulx (Usa) 1:49.17
10. Robert Labbe (Canada) 5:55.66
Men H2
1. Vittorio Podesta (Italy) 28:41.55
2. Heinz Frei (Switzerland) 20.75
3. Walter Ablinger (Austria) 28.21
6. Charles Moreau (Canada) 32:54.91
11. Mark Beggs (Canada) 3:36.32
Men H3
1. Rafal Wilk (Poland) 28:05.02
2. Vico Merklein (Germany) 36.48
3. Nigel Barley (Australia) 1:00.86
DNF Mark Ledo (Canada)
Men T2
1. Hans-Peter Durst (Germany) 14:53.58
2. David Stone (Great Britain) 10.65
3. Nestor Ayala Ayala (Colombia) 1:05.66