Germany dominate penultimate day of Para-cycling Road World Championships

The first day of the road races took place, with hand cycling events due to be held tomorrow ©Getty Images

Germany swept the podium in the men’s C1 road race on the penultimate day of action at the International Cycling Union (UCI) Para-cycling Road World Championships in Nottwil, Switzerland.

By fielding three strong riders, Erich Winkler, Pierre Senska and the newly crowned time trial world champion Michael Teuber, Germany were always likely to be the favourites to claim gold in the road race event.

The trio broke away from Spain's Juan Jose Mendez in the closing stages of the 56 kilometres course before Senska was able to defeat his compatriots in a sprint finish to take the gold medal in 1 hour 30min 48sec.

Time trial champion Teuber crossed the line in the same time to add the silver to his medal collection, with Winkler coming home in third to wrap up the all-German podium.

Hans-Peter Durst added to Germany’s success with a sprint victory of his own in the men’s T2 classification, holding off Colombia’s Nestor Ayala Ayala ito take the title in 52min 28sec.

Britain’s Dame Sarah Storey secured her 22nd world title breaking away from her rivals to win the women’s C5 event in 1:44:45, enjoying a winning margin of more than eight minutes over Poland's Anna Harkowska.

American Jamie Whitmore also claimed her second gold of the week, beating Germany’s Denise Schlinder in the C3 event by 1:07.

Dame Sarah Storey defended her women's C5 road race title after breaking clear of the field ©Getty Images

Canada’s Shelley Gauthier, meanwhile, dominated the T1 women’s event, crossing the line in 57:06, 3:57 clear of Russia’s Yulia Sibagatova.

“I had a perfect time trial but today I made a few mistakes, but it was okay in the end,” said Gauthier.

“It’s always hard, I worked really hard this year, and if I hadn’t I definitely wouldn’t be here.

"The competition is getting tougher and tougher and I just had to do what I had to do.”

As they had done in the time trial events China’s Jieli Li and Sini Zeng earned victories in the women’s C1 and C2 events.

Li crossed the line in 1:42.26, while Zeng finished clear of Colombia’s Daniela Carolina Munevar to take the C2 classification race in 1:29:33.

America’s Shawn Morelli was another woman to secure her second gold of the week, claiming victory in the C4 event in 2:01:06.

Poland’s Iwona Podkoscielna and her guide Aleksandra Wnuczek earned gold in the visually impaired event in 2:19:11.

Peru’s Israel Hilario Rimas secured a breakaway victory in the men’s C2 race, moving clear of rivals, Spain's Maurice Eckhard Tio and the Czech Republic’s Ivo Koblasa, to earn the title in 1:29:04, having been forced to settle for bronze in the time trial event.

Japan’s Masaki Fukita also broke away to take gold in the men’s C3 race in 1:27:34.

Slovakia’s Patrik Kuril and Australia’s Alistair Donohoe were crowned the champions of the C4 and C5 races, stopping the clock in 2:00:58 and 2:00:55 in their respective events.

In the men’s visually impaired race, Spain’s Ignacio Avila Rodiguez and Joan Font Bertoli sprinted clear of The Netherlands’ Vincent Ter Schure and Timo Franssen to win the title in 2:48:33.