Day one of the 2024 UCI Road and Para-cycling Road World Championships in Zurich, Switzerland, saw one gold medal awarded: in the mixed handbike team relay.
Pre-race favourites and defending UCI World Champions France took the honours in a time of 24’55. Italy finished second, and Spain third. Home nation Switzerland finished fifth in a memorable race of cat-and-mouse. This was an historic race, being the first time the para-cycling road programme runs alongside the programme of the UCI Road World Championships.
The French trio of Florian Jouanny (H2), Johan Quaile (H3) and Joseph Fritsch (H4) rode a strong and strategically impressive race to retain the title France won in Glasgow, Scotland (Great Britain), in 2023 and in Baie-Comeau, Canada, in 2022.
“It was great to see so many people out for the event,” said Jouanny. “It’s not long since Paris. One race, one victory. It’s great.”
Commenting on the regular changes of lead with the Swiss team, Fritsch explained: “It was a tactic of Switzerland to put the fastest guy at the start but finish with the slowest. Our strategy was the opposite – to finish with the fastest rider.”
Sunshine welcomed the para-cyclists for the first of nine days of competition. Eight teams – Austria, Canada, Switzerland, Italy, Spain, USA, Germany and France – lined up by Lake Zurich for nine laps of the 1.8km Seefeld Circuit, a total of 16.6km. The flat parcours had a nominal 42m of elevation gain.
The crowds were out in their thousands to witness the action, motivating the Swiss riders – Yves Schmied (H2), Micha Wäfler (H3) and Fabian Recher (H4) – who led many times.
Heading into the final lap, Switzerland had an advantage of 11 seconds, but the powerful Fritsch unleashed a magnificent effort to help France to gold. The Italian trio of Luca Mazzone (H2), Davide Cortini (H3) and Federico Mestroni (H3) came through on the final lap, just holding off the Spaniards Sergio Garrote Muñoz (H2), Luis García-Marquina Cascallana (H3) and David Mouriz Dopico (H3).
France continued the impressive form that saw them finish second in the Paralympics para-cycling road medal table with seven gold, 10 silver and four bronze medals. France ended their Paralympic campaign in Paris in fine style with victory in the final race, the mixed H1-H5 team relay, more than a minute ahead of Italy (2nd) and the USA. With one change to their team in Zurich (Quaile replacing Mathieu Bosredon), they looked just as strong.
Jouanny, in particular, is enjoying a season to remember after finishing the Paris 2024 Paralympics with two gold medals (men’s H1-2 road race and mixed H1-5 team relay) and one bronze medal (men’s H2 individual time trial).
The 32-year-old is fast becoming a para-cycling legend in France. His success in Paris added to the silver and bronze medals he won in Tokyo. In 2017, Jouanny also became the first European tetraplegic to finish an Ironman triathlon in a time of 14 hours and 55 minutes.
A special mention must also go to Italy’s 53-year-old Luca Mazzone, who added silver to the 18 para-cycling UCI world titles on his long list of achievements.
Tomorrow, the Women B and C4-5 para-cyclists will tackle the individual time trials, the action starting from 10:00 CET.
Para-cycling sport classes
C – Cycle: conventional bike with adaptations if necessary
T – Tricycle: three-wheeled bike
B – Tandem: for visually impaired athletes with sighted pilot
H – Handcycle
Groups C (1-5), T (1-2) and H (1-5) are divided into different sport classes, with the lower the number indicating a higher level of impairment.