The first gold medal of the first included Road Cycling World Championships goes to France. With the favored French winning, the Swiss handbike relay team took 5th place in the team competition.
The Swiss trio of Fabian Recher, Micha Wäfler and Yves Schmid put in a spirited race on the shores of Lake Zurich and, contrary to their own expectations, were able to stay in contention for the medal for a long time. The final rider Schmid even tackled the last of nine laps in the lead, and in the end the Romand and his colleagues were just six seconds off the podium after 16.6 km.
Silver and bronze went to Italy and Spain, seven and ten seconds behind the French, who had already won the Paralympics in Paris.
SDA