Rank outsiders featured strongly in the medals in both the Men's and Women's B&VI 1-3 Road Races at the Ming Tombs road race circuit outside Beijing on Sunday afternoon, September 14.
Only two fancied riders, both in the Women's event, occupied medal places decided in two of the tightest finishes seen during the three days of Paralympic road racing.
First to finish was the Women's Road Race (B&VI 1-3) with 2007 Paracycling World Championship winner Iryna Fiadotava and her pilot Alena Drazdova of Belarus blazing round the 72.6km course to take gold three seconds ahead of Karissa Whitsell and her pilot Mackenzie Woodring of the United States, gold medal winners in Athens four years ago.
The race's surprise package was complete unknown Genevieve Oullet and her pilot Mathilde Hupin of Canada with no international success to their names prior to this event. The Canadians took bronze ahead of Lindy Hou and her pilot Toireasa Gallagher of Australia who were strongly favored for at least silver having come second to Fiadotava at the 2007 World Championships.
In a sprint to the line, the Canadian pair crossed millimeters ahead of the Australians although both were given the same time, 5.42 seconds behind Fiadotava.
Fiadotava's win will be sweet revenge for the Belarus rider who was beaten to the silver by Whitsell in the Women's Time Trial (B&VI 1-3) on Friday. Spare a thought for Hou though who goes home empty-handed from the Road Race circuit having come fourth twice by milliseconds in both Road Race and Time Trial events.
No sooner had the crowd got their breath back from the Women's finish than they were treated, fittingly in the final Road Cycling event, to the competition's single most frantic rush to the line in the Men's Road Race (B&VI 1-3).
Krzysztof Kosikowski of Poland, looking like a favorite for the gold after taking the 2007 Road Race World Championship in Bordeaux, was well in contention as nine of the 44 starters raced down the final straight to complete the 96.8km course.
The Pole must have been as stunned as anyone to see not one but four riders cross the line ahead of him, the first three with nothing better than a World Championship seventh place to his name.
Only 3.22 seconds separated the nine at the finish, the first three crossing just five hundredths of a second apart.
After a lengthy deliberation the judges finally awarded the gold to world championship seventh-placed rider Andrzej Zajac and his pilot Dariusz Flak of Poland who crossed just 0.01 seconds ahead of the virtually unknown Jarmo Ollanketo and his pilot Marko Tormanen of Finland.
The flying Finns came home just 0.04 seconds faster than Bronze-placed Olivier Donval, piloted by John Saccomandi of France who placed a lowly 21st at the World Championships.
Kosikowski was eventually beaten into fifth place by Vladislav Janovjak of Slovakia and only narrowly beat four chasing riders, all with serious road race pedigrees.
The afternoon's results at last put Belarus and Poland on the gold medals board which finished with Great Britain on five, Spain, Germany and the USA on three, Switzerland on two and the Czech Republic, Italy, Austria, France, Belarus, Poland and South Africa all on one.
(BOCOG September 14, 2008)