(Montreal) Even though he had a puncture, Charles Moreau (H3) was not down after the men’s handbike relay race that took place on Monday, concluding the Para-cycling Road World Cup in ‘Huntsville, Alabama.
The Canadian trio formed by Moreau, Alex Hyndman (H3) and Matthew Kinnie (H2) took seventh place, 3 min 8 s behind the winners, the Spaniards.
At the start of his third and final lap, the Victoriavillois had a puncture on his front wheel, which slowed him down considerably, in addition to making it harder to drive in the turns.
“I ran over something sharp, which split the wall of my tire. Everything was fine until then,” said Moreau the day after his race, who rode with a flat tire for 2 kilometers before handing over to Alex Hyndman.
“I thought about quitting because I didn’t want to scrap my rim, but if I stopped, we didn’t collect points. I then took the risk to continue quietly. »
Moreau gave Hyndman the touchline in fifth place. The latter moved up a rank in the provisional standings before giving way to Matthew Kinnie who was the seventh to cross the finish line.
Despite this incident, the Paralympian who won the bronze medal in the time trial last Saturday was still encouraged by the times achieved by each member of the team.
“It was quite one of our best races. We are happy with our performance as a team. […] Our teammate in the H2 class (Matthew Kinnie) is getting more and more competitive and we in the H3s have good podium potential. »
Among the other Quebecers in action on Monday, Tarek Dahab took ninth place in the C2 category. He finished in the last peloton which reached the finish just over 12 and a half minutes behind the winner, Frenchman Alexandre Leaute.
The tandem formed by Benoit Lalumière-Cloutier and Maximilien Moreau (driver) ranked 12e (+8 min 38 s) of the men’s race where the Canadian duo formed by the visually impaired Lowell Taylor and his driver Ed Veal climbed on the third step of the podium after a sprint won by the Dutch Tristan Bangma and Patrick Bos ( pilot).
As for Pierre Czyzowicz, he finished 15e C4s.
The Huntsville stage was the last on the road World Cup calendar. The World Championships will be held in Glasgow, Scotland in early August where Moreau will again be aiming for a medal in the time trial.
The country’s best para-cyclists will return to competition at the end of June at the Canadian Championships in Edmonton.