CANADA EARNS FIRST PARA-CYCLING MEDALS AT WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS
Shelley Gautier and Marie-Eve Croteau break the ice for Canada
(Greenville (SC), USA – August 30, 2014) Shelley Gautier (Toronto, ON) and Marie-Eve Croteau (Quebec, QC) broke the ice for Canada on Saturday, each winning a medal on the second day of the time trials at the 2014 UCI Para-Cycling Road World Championships in Greenville, South Carolina.
Gautier, the reigning World Champion, successfully defended her title by taking the win in the T1 class with a time of 21:10.68.
“The course in Greenville was hilly and technical. Those are two features I really like, so I enjoyed the course. I was able to post a good time and really get excited about being here,” said Gautier, after receiving the rainbow jersey designating her as the World Champion. “The road race will be a little harder with more hills and more technical features, which is just fine with me. Now I just want to enjoy winning today’s race, and tomorrow start thinking about the next race Monday.”
At age 46, Gautier sits in first place the UCI World standings. Since racing for Canada, Gautier has been an international force to reckon with, finishing first at the UCI Road World Championships in both the road race and time trial races in 2010 (Canada), 2011 (Denmark) and 2013 (Canada).
At the 2012 ParaPan-American Games in Guadalajara, Gautier won the silver medal in the mixed T class.
Marie-Eve Croteau raced to the second place of the T2 time trial, behind 2014 World Cup Champion and reigning World Champion, Carol Cooke of Australia.
“I am satisfied with the race. We (coach Eric van Den Eynde and I) have worked hard to be ready for this kind of course. I think I had a technically flawless race. The Australian riders is very strong but I still have some room to improve in order to minimize the existing margin,” said Croteau after the race.
In 2012, Croteau was involved in a severe crash that forced her out of competition for the Paralympic Games, where she was a strong medal hopeful. 2014 marked her return to healthy racing after a long rehabilitation process. This year, Croteau won the first two World Cup races of the season in Italy and took two second places in the second World Cup event in Spain.
The hand-cycle races were also presented on the third day of competition. In the women’s H3 class, Myriam Adam (St Jean-sur-Richelieu, QC) finished 12th.
In the H2 class, Robert Labbé (Quebec, QC) took the 10th position. At the Road World Championships in 2010, Labbé won the bronze medal in the time trials, racing then in the H1 class. Charles Moreau (Trois-Rivières, QC) racing in the H3 took the 7th place. Mark Ledo (Maple, ON) completed his time trial in 10th position. At the 2010 and 2011 Road World Championships and racing in the H3 class, Ledo won two bronze medals in the road race. Ledo was also reclassified to the H4 class this year.
The road races for the C and B classes will be presented Sunday.
RESULTS – TIME TRIAL – 2014 UCI PARA-CYCLING ROAD WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS
WOMEN T1
1. GAUTIER, Shelley (CANADA) 21:10.68
2. WOOLFORD, Bianca (AUSTRALIA) 23:20.44 +2:09.76
3. PEROVA, Svetlana (RUSSIA) 25:42.01 +4:31.33
WOMEN T2
1. COOKE, Carol (AUSTRALIA) 31:23.46
2. CROTEAU, Marie-Eve (CANADA) 33:35.97 +2:12.51
3. WALSH, Jill (USA) 35:41.29 +4:17.83
WOMEN H3
1. BRELSFORD DANA, Alicia (USA) 31:56.04
2. DARKE, Karen (GREAT BRITAIN) 32:12.95 +16.91
3. KALUZA, Renata (POLAND) 33:27.14 +1:31.10
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12. ADAM, Myriam (CANADA) 42:05.72 +10:09.68
MEN H2
1. GROULX, William (USA) 29:28.31
2. MAZZONE, Luca (ITALY) 29:54.51 +26.20
3. ROHAN, Mark (IRELAND) 31:16.53 +1:48.22
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10. LABBE, Robert (CANADA) 37:39.51 +8:11.20
MEN H3
1. FREI, Heinz (SWITZERLAND) 25:54.70
2. PODESTA, Vittorio (ITALY) 26:00.84 +6.14
3. LACHENAUER, William (USA) 26:19.14 +24.44
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7. MOREAU, Charles (CANADA) 27:12.05 +1:17.35
MEN H4
1. WILK, Rafal (POLAND) 25:16.47
2. JEANNOT, Joel (FRANCE) 25:40.85 +24.38
3. FRUEHWIRTH, Thomas (AUSTRIA) 25:52.95 +36.48
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10. LEDO, Mark (CANADA) 27:17.12 +2:00.65
