Friday marked the opening of the road competition at the 2006 IPC Cycling World Championships in Aigle Switzerland, and our U.S. Handcycling Team had a mediocre day, with no medals.
The best U.S. finisher was Oscar Sanchez, who placed 7th out of a big field of HCC men. It was an impressive ride from Sanchez, who has shown great promise this season finishing 1:47 behind surprise winner, veteran Franz Nietlispach of Switzerland, in the ~17 kilometer event.
In the men’s HCB race, Matt Updike and Greg Hockensmith finished mid-pack, 10th and 11th respectively, finishing 2:40 and 3:13 behind winner Marcel Pipek of the Czech Republic (Pipek also won the HCB TT at the 2004 Paralympic Games).
Monica Bascio fared about the same in the women’s race, finishing 5th out of 11 competitors, 1 minute behind winner Andrea Eskau of Germany. It is of note that Bascio was the fastest woman not riding a kneeling bike.
But the story of the day was Alejandro Albor. Usually, Albor is in the headlines for far different reasons than today. Our own ‘world’s fastest handcyclist’ was not allowed to start when the IPC inspected his handcycle before the race and found that his rear wheels were too narrow by just 2mm. This is not a surprise since Tony Yorke of the IPC declared last season that he would “find a way to disqualify that bike.”
There is still the road race on Sunday, and our U.S. Team is not out of the medal hunt just yet. Look for Albor to bounce back like he did last year, winning the TT after a crash in the road race. He’s also got some tactical help in the form of Sanchez. Meanwhile, Hockensmith, Updike, and Bascio will use their status as crafty veterans to pull something out of their collective hat in the road race!
Full results can be found HERE.
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