More than 200 riders from 40 countries take to the road today in search of Paralympic cycling gold. Over the next three days they'll be racing round the perimeter of the spectacular Ming Tombs reservoir in the Changping District of Beijing in a series of road races and time trials designed to test the endurance of every entrant.
Entrants are classed into four main categories depending on disability, each category split into sub-categories dependant on the level of that disability. All blind and visually impaired athletes race in the B&VI 1-3 class, those with locomotor disabilities are in the LC classes 1 to 4, those with cerebral palsy are in CP 3 and 4 and those normally requiring a wheelchair are in the handcycling (HC) categories A to C. Road racing and time trial distances vary according to severity of disability.
Many of the athletes participating come directly from the Paralympic Track Cycling competition where they set a combined total of 17 world records over four days at the Velodrome. Eleven of the records went to the mighty British contingent which won 12 of the 21 gold medals and utterly dominated the competition. Six of the team are named as starters in the road competition and all must be anticipating adding to their medals haul.
Of the star names to watch, that of Darren Kenny of Great Britain stands out above the rest. A triple gold winner in the velodrome, he must be confident of adding to the tally out on the road and could take his haul to five if he takes the Men's CP3 class road race and time trial.
Few will be betting against it on Kenny's current form. Dubbed by some as Paralympic Cycling's Ussein Bolt, Kenny simply demolished all opposition on the track and his levels of confidence must be sky high. If he needs an incentive, he just has to remember that two Spanish riders beat him into two third place positions in the 2007 Paracycling World Cup in Bordeaux, France, both of whom he faces in competition over the next three days. Javier Ochoa and Maurice Far Eckhard of Spain, in return will be seeking revenge for the mauling they received from Kenny on the track.
In the Men's CP4 class, all the top three from Bordeaux - Klaus Lungershausen of Germany, Jiri Bouska of the Czech Republic and Chris Scott of Australia - are in Beijing but all will be well aware that the man in form is Ishii Masashi of Japan who took the track CP4 Time Trial gold and came within centimeters of taking another in the Individual Pursuit.
In the HC events, eight of the three top threes from Bordeaux are in Beijing with Christoph Etzlstorfer of Austria in the HCA class and Alejandro Albor of Spain in the HCC showing the greatest place consistency over the years. Etzlstorfer took gold at Athens in 2004 and a bronze in Bordeaux. Albor will be keen to improve on the silvers he won at both events.
Likewise, the top three from Bordeaux in all the Men's LC classes are in town and eager to add to their medals hauls. Gold medalists Wolfgang Eibeck of Austria in the LC1, Jan Boyen of Belgium in LC2, Lauren Thirionet of France in LC3 and Paulo Vigano of Italy in LC4 must start out as favorites.
In the Men's B&VI 1-3 class, Kryzsztof Kosikowsi of Poland in the road race and Christian Venge of Spain will be the ones to watch after their gold medal successes in Bordeaux.
In the Women's events, all but two of the six scheduled races are new to the Paralympics. The only real form to go on is in the B&VI 1-3 time trial and road races in which Iryna Fiadotava of Belarus stands out from the crowd having won gold in both events in Bordeaux. Her closest rival is probably Lindy Hou of Australia who took silver and bronze behind Fiadotava in both events last year.
Other names to watch will be Andrea Eskau of Germany in the HCC events and her compatriot Natalie Simanowski in the LC3 class, both of whom struck gold in Bordeaux.
(BOCOG September 12, 2008)