Ryan Boyle celebrates at the 2019 UCI Para-cycling Road World Championships on Sept. 15, 2019 in Emmen, Netherlands.
EMMEN, NETHERLANDS – Highlighted by a gold medal from Ryan Boyle (Monroe, Connecticut) in the men’s T2 road race, the U.S. closed out the 2019 UCI Para-cycling Road World Championships with six medals on the final day of racing. Team USA finished with the most overall medals of any country with 21 medals.
Highlights From Road Cycling
Defending Champion – Boyle reigned as the world champion in the men’s T2 road race, defending his rainbow stripes and earning his first gold medal of the 2019 road world championships. Boyle won bronze on Friday in the time trial and today captured his third-career world title.
Breaking Onto The Podium – On the final day of competition, Travis Gaertner (Burien, Washington) won his first world championship medal in Emmen with bronze in the men’s H4 road race. The 39-year old competed at his second road cycling world championships after crashing in both races in 2018 and finishing in fifth in the time trial on Friday.
Finishing Strong – The U.S. finished with 21 total medals (four golds, eight silvers and nine bronzes) in Emmen, six more medals than at the 2018 world championships. Four athletes won world titles: Boyle, Alicia Dana (Putney, Vermont), Aaron Keith (Woodinville, Washington) and Shawn Morelli (Saegertown, Pennsylvania).
Team USA Results
Overall: 21 medals (4 golds, 8 silvers, 9 bronzes)
Road Race (Sept. 15): 6 medals (1 gold, 3 silvers, 2 bronzes)
Gold (1): Ryan Boyle (Monroe, Conn.) – MT2
Silver (3): Alicia Dana (Putney, Vt.) – WH3; Tom Davis (Fremont, Ind.) – MH4; Oksana Masters (Louisville, Ky.) - WH5
Bronze (2): Travis Gaertner (Burien, Wash.) – MH4; Will Groulx (Portland, Ore.) – MH2
Full results can be found at this link.
Quotes
Ryan Boyle
“As always, it’s such an honor putting on the USA jersey and completely gutting myself on the course, doing my country proud. I’m glad I did it and of course, it was nerve-racking at the beginning but I just knew to keep my calm and that hopefully I’ll make the right decisions but road racing is so tricky because there are so many variables and you never quite know how it’s going to go. I’m just thrilled that it worked out this way and that I’m bringing it home for America.”
Oksana Masters
“I’m pretty stoked. The course is very flat, similar to in Rio [at the 2016 Paralympic Games] so to be able to see that improvement on a course that isn’t my strength is really cool. There were some technical aspects that I thought I did better than I thought I would. I’m coming away with two silver medals after not winning any at my last world championships in 2015 so I can’t complain.”
Travis Gaertner
“It feels absolutely amazing. I’ve been working ridiculously hard for this. It wasn’t a course that necessarily suited me but Jim [Lehman], my coach, really prepared me well so I can work through my strengths on a course that was probably a weakness for me given the type of rider I am. I felt really prepared going into it. Working with Tom [Davis] was incredible. He was very selfless out there and he was a true teammate. Without Tom out there, I wouldn’t have been on the podium so it was a really great team effort to get both of us on the podium.”
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