Tandem stars ride to gold at Para-cycling Road World Cup

The world champion’s jersey proved a lucky charm for Stephen Bate and Adam Duggleby after the double Paralympic champions struck gold at the Para-cycling Road World Cup.

The pair were more than a minute ahead of the rest of the field in the men’s B category, stopping the clock in 35:11.46 in Baie-Comeau, Canada.

That was one of three gold medals for the British team with Lora Fachie and Corrine Hall also standing atop the podium in their own tandem race.

While Will Bjergfelt also revelled in personal history, securing his maiden gold medal on the roads of Canada.

For Bate and Duggleby, this was their first time in the rainbow stripes and they certainly did the honour justice, Bate and his pilot easing to victory in the three-lap race.

Finishing a full 70 seconds ahead of the field, there was little doubt that the pair would take the win having reached each of the intermediate sectors in first place.

Into the men’s C5 race and a piece of personal history saw Bjergfelt secure his very first gold medal in the Para-cycling Road World Cup.

But he certainly didn’t have things his own way, forced to work hard to secure his maiden victory in a time of 37:42.03.

That was despite hitting the two checkpoints in second place in his time trial effort, eventually finishing just 1.67 seconds ahead of Australia’s Alistair Donohoe while Dorian Foulon of France rounded off the top three.

And the third and final gold was to go to Paralympic pursuit champions Fachie and Hall, completely dominant in the 28.4km time trial to win the women’s B competition by more than a minute.

Like their male teammates, the tandem pair - who won road race bronze at Rio 2016 - were simply dominant from the first pedal stroke, 40:55.07 the time on the watch when they crossed the line. Poland’s Iwona Podkoscielna and Aleksandra Teclaw finished in second place.

That wasn’t all though for the Brits however as Crystal Lane-Wright picked up a valiant second place in the women’s C5, stopping the clock just 11 seconds behind winner Anna Harkowska in a time of 28:09.57.

The men’s C3 race also had British representation in the form of Benjamin Watson, who came second behind home favourite Michael Sametz, while Megan Giglia came third in the women’s equivalent.

And Katie Toft put in a strong showing to stop the clock in 35:55.61 in the C1 race.

Saturday saw the hand-cycling road races get underway with Rio 2016 Paralympic champion Karen Darke among those taking to the start line.

A solid performance came her way, finishing third in a time of 1:45:08, though she couldn’t prevent Alicia Dana from taking the win.