More medal success for Clifford in Switzerland

Galway Rider Adds Road Race Bronze at Paracycling Road World Cup

Eoghan Clifford has added a third medal to Ireland's total on day two of the UCI Paracycling Road World Cup in Yverdon-les-Bains, Switzerland.

 Reigning world champion Clifford followed up his time trial victory yesterday with third place in the MC3 Road Race over four laps of a hilly, rain lashed 14.53km course.

Clifford sprinted for gold after 58.12km but gave best to Italian Fabio Anobile and Steffen Waria of Germany in the final dash to the line.

The Galway-native edged out Sergey Ustinov for the final medal as four riders came home clear of the chasers.

Meanwhile Mark Rohan finished a battling 26th in the road race, one place ahead of his time trial result in his first event racing in the much more competitive H3 category.

Team coach Neill Delahaye was able to reflect on another day of success for the Irish squad in the battle for ranking points for this year's world cup and Paralympic qualifying points for Rio 2016.

 Neill Delahaye: "The racing today was epic by any standard. The good weather we have been experiencing turned dramatically and our races were run in very heavy rain.

"The race parcours here in Yverdon for this World Cup is also particularly challenging with two climbs in the 14km circuit. One is 4km long topping out with a 12% section and the other is 2km at a steady 7% average gradient.

"It's pretty much uphill or downhill which is providing some very selective racing. The guys had no choice but to work exceptionally hard in their races as a result.

"To secure another medal was a fantastic achievement by Eoghan. As reigning world champion he was very active throughout but heavily marked by the other four riders in the winning break.

"The finish would not be his preferred type of finale with a flat broad one kilometre run in to the line but nonetheless he challenged the established fast finishers in the winning move all the way to the chequered flag, delivering a very strong sprint at the end of a tough race."

Colin Lynch is the next rider in action for the Irish squad in the MC2 Road Race on Tuesday followed by the tandem pairing of Katie George Dunlevy and sighted pilot Fiona Guihen in the Women's B2 Road Race.

 

For full results from all races at round two of the UCI Paracycling Road Word Cup in Yverdon –les-Bains see http://www.uci.ch/para-cycling/ucievents/2015-para-cycling-uci-para-cycling-world-cup/374847015/widgets/start-lists-results-standings/

Day 1 – Sunday 14th June 2015                                                                          Results

8am-5pm             Mark Rohan                      M H2 Time Trial 14.15km               27th

                            Colin Lynch                       M C2 Time Trial 14.15km               1st

                             Brown & McCrystal         M B Time Trial 28.30km                  12th

                            Dunlevy & Guihen           W B Time Trial 28.30km                    8th

                            Eoghan Clifford                M C3 Time Trial 28.30km               1st

                                                 

Day 2 –Monday 15th June 2015

9.02am              Mark Rohan                         H3 Road Race 29.06km                  26th

4pm                   Eoghan Clifford                   M C3 Road Race 58.12km              3rd

Day 3 – Tuesday 16th June 2015    
           

8am                   Colin Lynch                        M C2 Road Race 43.59km             

1.17pm             Dunlevy & Guihen                 W B Road Race 72.65km               

 

Irish Team for 2015 UCI Para-Cycling Road World Cup Round Two

 

Mark Rohan, MH2 Time Trial, MH1 Road Race, from Ballinahown, Co. Westmeath

Colin Lynch, MC2 Time Trial, MC2 Road Race, from Cheshire in England

James Brown & Bryan McCrystal, MB Time Trial, MB Road Race, Brown from Stonehouse in England, McCrystal from Dundalk, Co. Louth

Katie-George Dunlevy & Fiona Guihen, WB Time Trial, WB Road Race, Dunlevy from Maidenhead in England, Guihen from Navan, Co. Meath

Eoghan Clifford, MC3 Time Trial, MC3 Road Race, from Galway Bay CC, Co. Galway

 

Coach

Neill Delahaye

Manager

Tommy McGowan

Mechanic

Gerry Beggs

 

About Classification in Paralympic Sport: Classification is a unique and integral part of Paralympic sport. It provides the structure to separate athletes with similar levels of impairments into groups, or classes as they are commonly known, so they can compete in fair and equal competitions against one another, and ensure that winning is determined by skill, fitness, power, endurance, tactical ability and mental focus. This same principle exists in non-Paralympic sports where athletes are classified according to age, gender or weight divisions to allow for as fair competition as possible.

 

In para-cycling there are fourteen classifications based on functional disability type. B refers to the tandems, where the stoker is blind or visually impaired, and the pilot is sighted. H represents the handcycling events, and C refers to cyclists on regular and also adapted, solo bikes, who may have cerebral palsy, limb impairments and amputations. In these events the categories have numbers denoting the level of impairment, the lower numbers the more severe the impairments and the higher less so.

 

For more information on Para-cycling visit: http://www.uci.ch/para-cycling/about/

 
World champion Eoghan Clifford (top, in rainbow jersey) sprints to third place in round two of the UCI Paracycling World Road Cup at Yverdon-les-Bains, Switzerland on Monday 15th June.