Ireland’s Katie-George Dunlevy with pilot Linda Kelly, and the Netherlands’ Tristan Bangma with pilot Patrick Bos, won the Women’s B and Men’s B road races respectively on the 5th day of the 2024 UCI Road and Para-cycling Road World Championships in Zurich, Switzerland.
The courses in both road races featured two laps of the 26.8km city circuit with stiff, long climbs with pitches touching 15%. It was then a flatter five laps of the 6.2km lakeside circuit for the women for a total 84.7km and an elevation gain of 1,197m. The men’s race featured eight lakeside laps for 103.2km and an elevation gain of 1,350m.
In the women’s race, the pre-race favourites were Sophie Unwin and pilot Jenny Holl, who won gold in the Women’s B road race at the recent Paralympics. In Paris, the British tandem edged out Dunlevy and Kelly by three seconds. Here, they once again faced the Irish tandem, who were seeking both revenge and further success after their time trial gold earlier in these UCI Worlds.
But it was another Irish tandem (Josephine Healion and pilot Eve McCrystal), fourth in the Paris road race, which set out to upset the pre-race predictions by forging a lead of nearly 50 seconds by the second checkpoint. Behind was a strong group comprising the race favourites plus Great Britain’s Lora Fachie and pilot Corrine Hall, bronze medalists in the Paralympics road race.
It wasn’t long before the two race favourites caught the Irish leaders to form a front group of three. Two of the chase group had chipped away at the lead, too, with the Italian tandem of Marianna Agostini and pilot Alice Gasparini working with the Poles Patrycja Kuter and pilot Katarzyna Kornasiewicz to close the gap to 18 seconds after the first of the five lakeside laps. But that’s as close as they got.
With less than 15km to go, Dunlevy and Kelly broke free in search of retaining their title. Unwin and Holl reacted and moved away from Healion and McCrystal but were 14 seconds back with two lakeside laps remaining.
Dunlevy and Kelly didn’t let up, and beat Unwin and Holl by 1’23”. Healion and McCrystal won bronze – a great farewell present for McCrystal, who’ll retire from Elite-level competition following these UCI Road and Para-cycling Road World Championships.
“We’re over the moon for Ireland to have two bikes on the podium,” said Dunlevy. “We dreamt this would happen in Paris, but it didn’t.
“It’s great to have challenging courses like this for the tandem. Ones that feature hills and are technical. It’s also great to combine the able-bodied and our Championships.
“It’s been a dream year. Three months ago I was in a hospital bed. Then we won three medals in Paris and two golds here.”
All the men’s pre-race talk was about Bangma and Bos. They had already won time trial gold in Zurich, and both the time trial and road race at the Paris 2024 Paralympics. They were aiming for their third consecutive UCI world title in the road race after winning in Baie-Comeau, Canada, in 2022 and Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland (Great Britain), in 2023.
The Spanish tandem of Joan Sansó Riera and pilot Eloy Teruel Rovira took the lead and then, by the third checkpoint, had hooked up with the French tandem of Alexandre Lloveras and pilot Yoann Paillot, who won bronze in the Paralympics road race. At this point, Bangma and Bos were around 17 seconds back. Surprising but far from insurmountable with such a long time to go.
Bangma and Bos were caught between two groups, with the chase group, led by the Polish tandem of Piotr Kołodziejczuk and pilot Michał Podlaski, over a minute back.
Could the leaders keep the Dutch at bay? Not for long as they were soon caught to forge a leading group of three. This group worked together and would decide the medals, the chase group nestling over two minutes back.
The lead group stayed together for lap after city lap, meaning the huge Zurich crowd would be treated to a sprint finish. The French showed their cards first but were soon overtaken by Bangma and Bos. The Spanish overtook the French tandem but couldn’t catch the Dutch duo, who added another gold medal to their collection. Sansó Riera and Teruel Rovira took silver with Lloveras and Paillot settling for bronze.
“That was a hard race, and we were dropped on the long climb,” said Bangma. “But it was an amazing race and means we’ve won everything this season. I have no words. Three Paralympic golds and three world titles. Now for some rest and to think about the next four years.”
“I was more emotional than I expected,” said Bos. “It’s a big relief to pull this one off. I’ve lost my voice shouting at the finish line. As for what’s next, I have the gravel nationals coming up and the UCI Gravel World Championships in a week. But they’re for fun. This was the final big goal.”
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.