Lynch finishes Road Race in 17th Place at Paracycling World Championships

Colin Lynch, who won a Bronze medal in the Time Trial earlier this week, had to settle for 17th place in the MC2 Road Race at the 2013 UCI Para-Cycling Road World Championships in Baie-Comeau, Canada, today. The Gold was won by Paralympic Champion, Victor Hugo Garrido Marquez (Venezuela), with reigning World Champion Alvaro Galvis Becerra in Silver medal position, Bronze was won by German Tobias Graf, completing a podium identical to that of the Paralympic Games.

Lynch, who is a Time Trial specialist, has had an outstanding season this year, but just missed out on a break that was established early on in the race. With the course being particularly tough, it was impossible for the chasers to re-establish themselves with the front group, with five laps to be completed, which included a tough climb each lap.

Speaking after the race Paracycling coach Neill Delahaye said "Colin was very unlucky at the start, as the pace was really fast straight away, and he just missed out on the break. With a significant hill on the course, which was a gradient of 10% for two kilometres, it meant that if you miss the break it is a big struggle.

The Road Race included competitors from the MC1, MC2 and MC3 categories, resulting in a large field of starters. While Lynch focuses mainly on the Time Trial discipline, the fact that he secured the World Cup Series overall lead, last week, emphasises his consistent performance all year in both Time Trials and Road Races.

Delahaye added "The race today was always a selective parcours, that doesn't play fully to Colin's strengths. But he can walk away happy with a really good season. He has put in a lot of hard work, and has got significant results."

Later on today racing will continue with Ireland's four tandems in action. The Men's tandem of Brown and Bleakley will be joined by former GAA player, Peter Ryan and Paralympic stoker Damien Shaw, where they will look to emulate their strong showing at the World Cup in Matane last weekend. In the Women's tandems, both Irish bikes will be starting in strong form, with Walsh and Meehan looking to put the disappointment of their mechanical in the Time Trial behind them.