The 31-year-old Yorkshireman (pictured top), who has cerebral palsy, came out with a point to prove after losing his time trial crown earlier this week when he finished third, and claimed victory by seven seconds following a long tussle with Italy's Giorgio Farroni.

Stone clocked a time of 45min 17sec for the 24 kilometres event in which Czech David Vondracek claimed bronze.

"It was the best race of my life," said Stone, who picked up his third Paralympic gold medal with the triumph.

"It makes the win better as it wasn't easy.

"Compared to Beijing [2008] the field is so much harder now.

"It's good, it pushes me and it makes it a much better sport."

The success enabled Britain to top the Paralympic cycling medals table – just as Team GB did in the Olympics – with a huge 22-strong haul consisting of eight golds, nine silvers and five bronze.

Italian former Formula One driver Alex Zanardi ended his fairytale story at the Games with silver in the mixed H 1-4 team relay.

The 45-year-old (pictured below), who lost both his legs and nearly his life after being hit in a high-speed smash during a Champ Car race in 2001, has already proved one of the stars of these Games with two unlikely gold medals at Brands Hatch, the famous motor-racing circuit.


And he only just missed out on a hat-trick as his Italian team, which also featured Francesca Fenocchio and Vittorio Podesta, finished 43 seconds behind gold medallists the United States and ahead of third-placed Switzerland in the 18km race.

The triumphant US team consisted of Matthew Updike, Oscar Sanchez and Marianna Davis.

For one-time Williams Grand Prix driver Zanardi, who admitted London 2012 may be his first and last Paralympics due to his age, it was a bittersweet moment.

"I'm certainly very, very happy, but this moment also brings a little bit of sadness because it is the end of a great adventure I've been fortunate enough to live," he said.

"You know, when you are in your twenties you always believe that the race, that the championship, is the only thing that matters.

"But then, 20 years later, you realise what really matters was the effort that you put in daily in order to build something special because when the championship arrives you cannot expect to meet happiness that day, otherwise you don't get there.

"You just do what you have to do because you love to do it."

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