GAUTIER WINS 14TH WORLD TITLE AT PARA ROAD WORLDS

Maniago, Italy (August 4, 2018) – Shelley Gautier of Toronto won the 14th world championship title of her career on Saturday at the UCI Para-cycling Road World Championships, in Maniago, Italy. Gautier, who won the Time Trial title on Thursday, is undefeated at the world championships since 2010, the first year competition was held for her T1 category.

Gautier won the 27.2 kilometre, two lap, race in a time of one hour, five minutes and 36 seconds, finishing eight minutes and 13 seconds ahead of Yulia Sibagatova of Russia. Olga Tsybulskaia of Russia took the bronze medal.

“It was a really enjoyable experience today,” said Gautier. “It made me feel all the hard work I’ve done was really worth it. Winning for Canada made me happy and it made my team happy.”

In other competition, Charles Moreau of Victoriaville, Quebec, finished sixth in the men’s H3, 68 kilometre road race. Moreau was just six seconds off the podium. Jean-Francois Deberg of Belgium won the title in a three-way sprint. Two other Canadian riders participated in the H3 race – Alex Hyndman of Morpeth, Ontario, finished 13th and Joey Desjardins of Hawksbury, Ontario, was 15th.

Canada is ranked fifth in nation standings after three days of competition with six medals – three gold, two silver and one bronze.

Competition concludes on Sunday with Bicycle and Tandem category road races.