Katie George Dunlevy and Eve McCrystal were in disbelief after claiming their third medal of the Paralympic Games this morning when they clinched victory in the road race.
Having been beaten to the road race world title in June - a rare defeat for them - they made sure to afford their breakaway rivals enough respect today. The Irish women imposed their final effort on their rivals; dictating the finale rather than waiting for a sprint.
Dunlevy and McCrystal add the road title won today to the TT gold medal they won earlier this week and the silver they took on the velodrome in the individual pursuit last week.
Five years ago at Rio 2016 they took gold in the TT and silver in the road race. And in the period between those two Games they have won no fewer than five world titles; three in the TT and two in the road race.
Advertisement
Today they pulled clear in a three-bike group, with Swedish duo Louise Jannering and Anna Svaerdstroem and Britain’s Sophie Unwin and Jenny Holl. And in the final kilometre, before any sprint, the Irish made their move; attacking to victory after 2½ hours of racing.
The Irish duo has now been so successful over the years it appears they dominate with ease. However, they both said they were pushed to their limit today when in the lead group.
McCrystal in particular said the race, run off in very wet conditions and on a technical course, was a massive challenge. She added their Worlds experience in June in Portugal - when they were beaten into 2nd by the British - meant they knew they could not afford to go to the line for a sprint today.
Related News
“That is the most stressful race I have ever done in my life as a pilot, just with the weather and the corners,” McCrystal said. “The Swedish really put it to us on the technical parts of the course. She was such a good bike handler.
“Gaps came on the corners, it was a lot of work to get them back. The climb was tough every lap. I found it so stressful. I can’t believe we are after winning, I am just shocked,” she said.
“We were with the strongest bikes, people who had beaten us in the sprint in Portugal in June at the Worlds. We knew we couldn’t take them to the line. We had to go, where ever worked best,” she added.
Dunlevy echoed those views, saying they were forced to
dig deep and call on all of their reserves, crediting Cycling Ireland coach
Neil Delahaye who she said had them in mint condition for these Games.
“We were losing ground in the technical bits on each lap,
we were closing gaps and then trying to get away ourselves but our fitness and
our strength stood to us,” Dunlevy said.
“In there at the end we were able to use that strength
and fitness and hold it to the line. That is down to all the time we have put
into it – into our strength and fitness. But to be honest I just can’t believe
we did it.
“Neill works so hard on every little detail to get us
ready. Just everything. We also have to mention our friends and family at home.
Those medals are ours but really they are everyone's.”
Topics
