Six of the best for Britain at Road World Cup

A heartening haul of six UCI Road World Cup gold medals means Great Britain’s para-cyclists head into next month’s World Championships brimming with confidence.

Leading the charge were Lora Fachie and pilot Corrine Hall, who struck double gold at the third and final World Cup event of the season in Baie-Comeau, Canada.

The tandem duo, who claimed time trial bronze at the last World Cup in Ostend, Belgium, swept the board with road race and time trial victories in Quebec.

Fachie and Hall romped to road race success on Sunday, finishing 2 min 26 sec ahead of the field in a time of 2:05.42, working harder for a time trial triumph by a margin of 4.96 sec.

Reigning individual pursuit Paralympic champions on the track, the pair are well-placed to add to their haul of four world titles in Emmen, Netherlands come September.

They brought back two silver medals from the 2018 World Championships, held in Maniago, Italy.

Meanwhile, double Paralympic medallist Crystal Lane-Wright made it two World Cup time trial wins from two events this season.

Lane-Wright, from Chelmsford, began her WC5 career with focus on the track but is a mounting force on the road and memorably claimed bronze from the road race in Rio.

The 33-year-old backed up victory in Ostend with a 28:42.31 run to the top of the rostrum in Canada, 17.20 seconds behind Kerstin Brachtendorf.

She finished second in the road race behind the German.

MC3 rising star Fin Graham claimed double gold in the road race and time trial, exceeding his own expectations heading into the competition.

“I can’t believe it - I wasn’t expecting to win two golds at all!” he said.

“During the time trial I had no idea how I was doing as didn’t get any time checks during the race, so it was only when I crossed the line and watched the other riders finish that I knew I’d posted a good time.

“It was made even better by the fact that Ben (Watson) finished second, so it was good day out for us!”

Britain’s other gold medal came from the reliable source of triple Paralympic champion David Stone, who had over 12 seconds on the field in the MT2 time trial.

The eight-time world champion only missed out on double gold by photo finish at the climax of a thrilling road race.

There were silver medals for Ben Watson in the MC3 time trial, Steve Bate and Adam Duggleby in the MB time trial and Will Bjerfelt in the MC5 road race.