Para-cyclist Marie-Claude Molnar (C4) narrowly missed the podium in the World Cup road race on Sunday in Elzach, Germany. Gold went to American Samantha Bosco, silver to Frenchwoman Katell Alençon and bronze to Canadian Keely Shaw, who beat the Quebecer in the sprint.
Posted at 12:18 p.m.
On the results sheet, we can speak of a copy-paste with those of the Ostend World Cup race, a week earlier in Belgium, when the first four runners had finished in the same order.
“I finished fourth again, but the race went better. My teammate Keely and I worked together for a good part of the race to try to get back on the peloton,” said the Longueuiloise, who also placed fourth in the individual time trial contested on Friday.
The Canadian team veteran said she and Shaw were slowed down by C1 and C3 riders racing at the same time on the course.
“We had to settle down and then it was a game of cat and mouse [avec les athlètes des autres catégories]. We couldn’t be in the groove [sous peine de disqualification] and it wasted our time. »
On top of that, Molnar had to deal with his seatpost dropping during the race.
“I was so in the moment that I didn’t think I would stop to ask our mechanic to fix it. It was a stupid mistake that cost me dearly. But hey, I especially remember the teamwork that Keely and I did. »
Samantha Bosco won with a huge gap of more than 8 minutes. She is new to the C4 class this year, having previously competed in the C5 class. The American has been dominant in every race since the start of the season.
“Some athletes have conditions [physiques] changing and it’s not always easy to determine the categories either. We don’t have control over that, so that’s it…” Molnar dropped out laughing.
On Saturday, in the men’s T2 road race, Louis-Albert Corriveau-Jolin (Sainte-Claire) finished ninth, just over 5 minutes behind the winner, Belgian Tim Celen. Michael Shelter of Pointe-Claire did not complete the race.