The second World Para Cup of the year took place in Besancon, France, yesterday. After strong showings at the first World Para Cup of the season in Abu Dhabi, several home favourites such as Antoine Besse were looking to impress in front of a home audience.
The headline race of the weekend, though, was the match-up between Grace Norman and Laura Steadman in the women’s PTS5 classification. Steadman claimed Paralympic gold in Tokyo while Norman was a Paralympic champion in Rio de Janeiro in the quad prior. With the road to the Paris Paralympic Games set to begin in July, Besancon represented a perfect opportunity to throw down a marker.
PTS
Women
Norman came into the PTS5 race in form having won the Americas Para Championships in Sarasota. Meanwhile, Steadman was making her first international start since beating Norman to gold in Tokyo in 2021.
The opening swim was a cagey affair. Although Norman and Steadman dropped the rest of the field, neither took their eyes off the other. It was a similar story on the bike as the pair covered the 20km in almost the same time; Norman hit a split of 35:21 to Steadman’s 35:22. The Brit managed to grab a small lead out of T2 after a superior transition.
However, the American soon closed her down.
It was then that Steadman’s lack of racing began to tell. Whereas Norman settled into a groove, her rival slipped behind. In the end, Norman out-ran Steadman by over a minute to take a comprehensive victory. It will be a long road to Paris, but based on this most recent evidence, Norman will be tough to beat.
Gwladys Lemoussu won the bronze medal after pulling away from her French teammate Emilie Gral on the bike.
The women’s PTS4 race was a showdown between Marie Delatour and Camille Seneclauze. Both were making their first start at the world level. In the end, though, Seneclauze won with ease.
After gaining a 2 minute advantage in the water, Seneclauze continued to gain time with each section of the race. By the time she crossed the line, Delatour was over 6 minutes back.
The women’s PTS3 race was very much a case of age versus experience as youngsters Sanne Koopman and Luan Mazet-Vignaud went up against Kitsty Weir and Coline Grabinski.
Koopman was probably the favourite after a silver medal at the European Championships in Madrid. At the same time, Grabinski had won the European Para Cup in Bari towards the end of 2022.
The young duo of Koopman and Mazet-Vignaud established a big lead in the swim, putting mutiple minutes into their rivals. Weir, however, came roaring back on the bike. The South African athlete powered into a lead that she did not relinquish. For good measure, she produced the fastest run split by a wide margin (22:18 to Koopman’s 30:04) to seal the deal.
Koopman ended up winning the silver medal while Grabinski overhauled Mazet-Vignaud on the run to take bronze.
In the PTS2 race, Veronica Yoko Plebani was up against Cécile Saboureau.
Plebani carried a 14 second lead into T1 and managed to gain further time with a fast transition. By contrast, Saboureau struggled a little and then tried to force the pace early in the bike to make up for lost time. Towards the second half of the course, though, Saboureau’s efforts began to exact a toll and Plebani gained further time.
Plebani then out-ran her French rival to seal the win by over 3 minutes.
Men
Antoine Besse was looking for a big result in the PTS5 category and was perhaps the favourite after winning medals in Abu Dhabi and Yokohama earlier in the year.
However, it was Adam Karas of Germany that took an early lead after putting together a wonderful swim. Clocking 11:49, he gained 69 seconds over Besse. The Lithuanian athlete, Ernestas Cesonis, was actually the second man out of the water, 1 second ahead of Besse.
In front of French support, though, Besse put on a show on the bike.
He quickly dropped Cesonis and set after Karas. The German tried to resist Besse’s surge but could only watch as the Frenchman passed by. With no one cycling within 4 minutes of Besse’s time, he arrived in T2 in blissful isolation. He then sealed the win, his first of 2023, with a smooth 18:04 5km.
The race for the medals, however, remained very much open. A fast bike split from Antoîne Leymarie saw him overtake Karas. Cesonis was still in virtual 2nd place, though.
Leymarie uncorked the fastest run of the field (17:54) to beat Cesonis to silver. The Lithuanian held on for a respectable bronze medal.
Eleven men started the PTS4 race but two took control of the swim. Michael Taylor of Britain and Gregoire Berthon of France clocked times of 10:16 and 10:17 to put the rest of the field on the back foot.
Pierre-Antoine Baele managed to limit his losses to under a minute. Nevertheless, he had plenty of work to do on the bike to catch up. Although Taylor fell behind and was passed by Baele, Berthon was not in the mood to surrender his lead. After a mammoth effort, he arrived with a 45 second advantage intact.
Baele, though, still caught sight of Berthon before the latter made his way onto the run. Able to scent his rival, he started his chase.
Berthon pushed hard to maintain his lead but Baele crept ever-closer. Eventually, he made it to the front and pulled away without looking back. His ultimate margin of victory was 52 seconds, but Berthon had pushed him close. Their next match-up will be one to watch.
Taylor held on for 3rd place after producing a mature run to consolidate his position.
In the PTS3 race, it was hard to look beyond Nico Van Der Burgt, the silver medallist from last year’s World Championships, for the potential winner. However, an upset was on the cards.
Max Gelhaar of Germany, the winner of the World Para Series stop in Yokohama, took the lead in the water, swimming 11:58 to Van Der Burgt’s 12:29. Anyone expecting the Dutchman to come flying back on the bike would have been caught out by Gelhaar’s speed. The German was brilliant on his way to a split of 38:11 to extend his lead.
With the gap between gold and silver over a minute, Van Der Burgt had plenty of work to do. After slicing 12 seconds off the deficit in T2, he set after Gelhaar on the run. Gelhaar continued to leak seconds, but his lead was still healthy enough.
On the second half of the run, perhaps as he sensed time was running out, Van Der Burgt made a big push. From the front of the race, though, Gelhaar was able to maintain his tempo. Then, with the finish line in sight, Gelhaar found another gear to run to victory by 58 seconds.
Van Der Burgt took silver, with Cedric Denuziere coming home to win the bronze medal. One thing is for sure, though, Gelhaar is becoming an increasingly formidable prospect. At fourteen years younger than Van Der Burgt, he has the potential to get a lot better in no time at all.
After Arian Notretu did not finish, the PTS2 race became a three-way race between a trio of French men. Among them were Geoffrey Wersy (who won in Yokohama), Jules Ribstein (the 2022 world champion) and Stephane Bahier (who won bronze in Yokohama).
Any one of the three could therefore have won.
Ribstein and Bahier built a big lead over Wersy in the swim. The former emerged from T1 with a lead over Bahier too. Bahier, though, dropped a monster bike split to wrestle control of the race away from the world champion. From further back, Wersy began to eat into Ribstein’s lead, but also lost time to Bahier. Once into T2, then, Bahier could practically taste the win.
Yet, on paper, he was the slowest runner of the three.
Both Ribstein and Wersy tore after him and began to reduce the gap. In the end, after a stunning 5km, Wersey soared through to take the win. Ribstein came home in 2nd, while Bahier had to settle for bronze.
PTVI
Joleen Hakker (B1), reigning Dutch champion, last raced internationally at the Besancon World Cup in 2021. There was therefore a symmetry to her re-appearance on the international circuit this weekend. Up against her, however, she had to contend with Annouck Curzillat (B1) who finished 4th at last year’s World Championships and 2nd at the recent European Championships. Moreover, Anna Barbaro (B1) was due to race.
Barbaro won a silver medal at the 2022 World Championships and took an early lead in the swim. Curzillat was close behind but on the bike, Heloise Courvoisier (B3) rocketed through to take over the lead of the race. For good measure, she then ripped the fastest run split of the race.
However, as a B3 athlete, Courvoisier would have 3 minutes 11 seconds added to her total time to equalise between her and her B1 rivals. Although Barbaro had lost too much time, the door was still open for Curzillat. And the French woman seized the opportunity.
After a stellar run, Curzillat ended up winning the race by a mere 11 seconds. Courvoisier came away with the silver medal while Barbaro held on for bronze.
Thibaut Rigaudeau (B2) was the favourite in the men’s race and justified his status as he went on win by almost 5 minutes.
He took an early lead in the swim, with Paul Lloveras (B2) the next man out, 51 seconds back. It was the bike, though, that really made the difference. Rigaudeau was over 2 minutes quicker than Manuel Lama (B3), the next fastest man who moved into 2nd place. Lama almost matched Rigaudeau on the run, running 18:29 to the Frenchman’s 18:21, but the win had long since been sealed.
Lloveras came away with the bronze medal after finishing 53 seconds behind Lama.
PTWC
Both races in the PTWC were won in comprehensive fashion.
Mona Francis won the women’s race after dominating every split. Rita Cuccuru won silver while Elise Laurent came away with the bronze medal. Laurent had led Cuccuru in the swim. Once onto the bike, though, Cuccuru swooped to the silver medal in comfort.
It was a similar story in the men’s race as Florian Brungraber obliterated the field to claim a second World Para Cup win of the year after Abu Dhabi. Louis Noel won the silver medal after a close battle with the much more experienced Ahmed Andaloussi.
You can view the full results here.
