Gold rush continues for Great Britain's para-cyclists in Rio

Great Britain’s para-cyclists must be hoping they can ride the boards of the Rio Olympic Velodrome every single day.

Two years after bagging 12 track medals across the team, a number of British Paralympic champions returned to the top step of the podium once again after a golden day two at the 2018 UCI Para-Cycling Track World Championships.

Megan Giglia kicked things off in the first session, winning the women’s C3 500m time trial to clinch her third rainbow jersey after time trial and 3km pursuit successes in 2016 – the same year she won individual pursuit gold at the Paralympic Games.

It was also sweet revenge for Giglia who pipped Germany’s Denise Schindler in the final, the same woman who had beaten her to gold in the women’s C3 3km individual pursuit final on Thursday.

The party atmosphere in the British Cycling camp gathered pace in the evening session as first Lora Fachie and Corrine Hall and then world record holders Steve Bate and Adam Duggleby repeated their Rio 2016 tandem pursuit exploits in quick succession.

It was also a milestone moment for the pairs with Fachie and Hall winning their first track rainbow jersey together, coming through qualifying fastest before seeing off nearest rivals Griet Hoet and Anneleen Monsieur of Belgium.

“It’s been a long time coming,” said Fachie. “This is my eighth track world championships and at last I have the jersey. We knew we were capable (of winning) but we had to show it on the day. We’ve broken the curse. I think this velodrome in Rio suits us.”

While for 40-year-old Bate and Duggleby, it was their first ever world title either on the track or road and they did it in some style too, clocking 4:12.579 in the gold-medal ride to beat Spain’s Ignacio Avila Rodriguez and Joan Font Bertoli by over two seconds.

“Coming back here has been great. It’s like a dream come true,” said Bate. “We knew we had a good chance. We always set the bar high.”

There was further medal success for the team with Katie Toft continuing her superb Para-Cycling Track World Championships debut with silver in the women’s C1 500m time trial. That added to the gold she won on Thursday in the women’s C1 individual pursuit.

Elsewhere Louis Rolfe, winner of team sprint gold and C2 individual pursuit bronze at Rio 2016, finished just outside the medals in fourth in the men’s C2 1km time trial while teammate Ben Watson was seventh in the men’s C3 scratch and 12th in the C3 1km time trial on his Para-Cycling Track Worlds debut.

After five podium finishes on day one, Great Britain’s medal tally now stands at nine in Rio with two days of competition remaining.