Oz Sanchez just won the GOLD medal at the 2008 Paralympic Road Time Trial. He trounced 2nd place Vicente Arzo of Spain by 21 seconds. And to sweeten the deal....Alejandro Albor took the bronze. Hear Oz' version of the story on the podcast below....
South Africa's Ernst Van Dyk went up the hill too hard, blew up and couldn't recover, he wound up 4th. "I blew-up just before the top of the hil, and that was it....I was in the red zone the whole time....I couldn't recover." said Van Dyk following the race.
In the HCB race, the Americans had a rough time of it, with David Lee struggling after a major change in his bike position. Matt Updike's international racing woes continue...his QR skewer was turned backwards when put in to the trainer just before the race, and it didn't get turned back around before the start....blocking the movement of the derrailleur and rendering 6 of the cogs on his cassette inaccessible.
Meanwhile, Switzerland's Heinz Frei came out on top of the HCB race, besting Vittorio Podesta of Italy by 6 seconds. Frei -- who is somewhere in his late 40s -- is a Paralympic legend, is both a winter and summer Paralympian, and has more than a dozen medals to his credit. His position atop the leaderboard is impressive in many ways, and although he says he is contemplating retirement, don't count him out for a few years...and particularly don't count him out of Sunday's road race.
We expect things to be very different in the road race. With the big (did we say big, we mean BIG) hill in the race, flatlander, Van der Linden won't be able to hang, and Sternath won't likely be a factor either. Arzo and the Germans however, are another story. Van Dyk looking for some payback, as well as Albor in the HCC race. In fact, Albor was quite disappointed with the bronze, and he is a man known to turn emotion in to something much, much more. Sanchez won the time trial because of his confidence. He believed he would win and he did. In case you were wondering: YES, he also believes he can win the road race.
In the HCB race, Updike is still looking to get out of an international slump. He is working on converting Friday's frustration in to a podium spot, but watch out for Malouf in the Road race...he is crafty. The group at the top of the hill on lap #1 (of 4) will likely be the final group....so it's anybody's game...keep your eye on the Canadians as well.
More photos from the Time Trial can be found in the gallery, which is HERE.
HCC
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1 Oz Sanchez, USA: 20:15.52
2 Vicente Arzo, ESP: 20:36.91
3 Alejandro Albor, USA: 20:59.49
4 Ernst Van Dyk, RSA: 21:01.59
5 Norbert Mosandl, GER: 21:33.09
6 Franz Nietlispach, SUI: 21:53.12
7 Norbert Koch, GER: 21:59.9
8 Don van der Linden, NED: 22:31.28
9 Elmar Sternath, AUT: 24:33.70
10 Peter Lorkowski, LUX: 25:05.34
11 Lassane Gasbeogo, BUR: 25:21.79
Nati Groberg, ISR: DNS
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HCB
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