Storey wins 19th Paralympic gold in thrilling road race

Sarah Storey edged out Heidi Gaugain in a tight finish through the streets of Clichy-sous-Bois

Britain's Sarah Storey won a record-extending 19th Paralympic gold medal as she beat French rider Heidi Gaugain in a thrilling sprint finish to the cycling road race.

It was a golden day for Britain's female cyclists as Sophie Unwin and guide Jenny Holl also won the women's B event, overtaking Ireland's Katie-George Dunlevy in the final stages, while Lora Fachie took bronze.

It is Unwin's second gold and fourth medal of these Games, while GB have now won 21 cycling medals in Paris, including eight golds.

Seven of those cycling medals have been won in road events - and all of them by women.

Storey, 46, was part of the leading pack throughout her 71km race before she and Gaugain - 27 years the Briton's junior - broke away in the final section.

Storey edged clear of Gaugain in the final corners, before crossing the line just inches ahead of her rival.

She punched the air after crossing the line before hugging her daughter Louisa, who was watching on the roadside with the rest of Storey's family.

“It’s really amazing," Storey said. "I’m just delighted my wheel was in front at the finish."

Sophie Unwin and Jenny Holl were able to celebrate before even crossing the finish line after a perfectly-timed sprint

This is Storey's 30th Paralympic medal, earned across two sports and nine Paralympic Games since she first competed at Barcelona 1992, and her 19th gold - no British athlete has won more.

It is her 13th gold medal in cycling following a switch from swimming, and fourth in successive Games in the C4-5 road race.

Storey, who did not compete in track cycling events in Paris to focus on the road events, adds race gold to the time trial title she won in Clichy-sous-Bois on Wednesday.

She formed part of the leading pack throughout the course, alongside 19-year-old Gaugain and Colombian rider Paula Ossa Veloza, who would eventually claim bronze.

But on the final circuit of the five-lap course, Storey and Gaugain broke away - with the experienced rider eventually winning out.

And afterwards Storey said she used Gaugain's own tactics against her to gain the upper hand by the narrowest of margins.

“The lap before the end, her coach shouted 'next lap on the left'. So I had a look where we were to make sure I was ready for that," she said. "He shouted 'go', so I went too.

"Heidi took a bit of a gap [lead] but that was fine, I had speed. It was just a matter of holding her while she accelerated from a long way out, it was the only tactic she could use because I have the faster sprint.

"Then on the final corner, that's when I unleashed it. She tried to come again, but I threw my bike and it was mine."

'I keep finding ways to win'

Sarah Storey won her first two Paralympic gold medals as a 14-year-old swimmer at Barcelona 1992 - and her 18th and 19th as a 46-year-old cyclist at Paris 2024

This was by far the closest finish Storey has had in the Paralympic road race - she won by more than seven minutes in 2012 and more than three minutes in 2016.

It was a seven-second margin of victory three years ago in Tokyo, but here there were barely inches between her and second place.

But it reaffirms Storey's status as Britain's most successful Paralympian ever, and as one of the most decorated active Para-athletes.

She will be 50 by the next Paralympics, in 2028 in Los Angeles, but Storey has refused to rule out another golden tilt and a 10th Games.

“My glutes are on fire, I was creaking before the race, but that’s normal," she said. "It’s about finding ways to manage the process and privilege of getting older as an athlete. I never envisioned eight Games, let alone nine.

“The key is not to be afraid to lose a race, I have to trust myself and go on instinct. I just wanted to see what I had to respond. I keep finding ways to win, long may that continue."

On LA, she said: “I need to enjoy this one first, but never say never to anything. This just needs to sink in, it’s one of the best races we have had."

There was another thrilling sprint finish, and another British gold, in the women's B road race.

Dunlevy, the reigning Paralympic champion who had beaten Unwin to gold in the time trial two days prior, had led for the vast majority of the 99.4km course - but the 30-year-old Brit was always on her tail.

And with the finish line in sight, Unwin and Holl put the hammer down with a perfectly timed sprint for which the Irish riders had no answer.

It sparked wild and tearful celebrations from the British pair as they won by a three-second margin, with Unwin now the owner of six Paralympic medals from Tokyo and Paris.

"I'm always emotional! I'm surprised it has taken me this long to cry like that," said Unwin. "It feels amazing, Jenny was incredible - she rode that race perfectly.

"We hoped for that [four medals], we knew we could but everyone always ups the standard for the Games, so we are glad to have managed it."

"We've raced these girls a lot and we know they like to run solo," Holl said of Dunlevy and pilot Linda Kelly. "But they never like to take us to a sprint finish. So all race it was about still being with them.... If we were with 500m to go, we knew we would be solid."

While Storey and Unwin stood out, the GB men endured a difficult day in the road cycling events.

In the men's C4-5, both Blaine Hunt and Archie Atkinson failed to finish the race. Hunt, a sprint specialist, pulled out after one lap of the seven-lap, 99.4km event having supported Atkinson through the start.

However Atkinson, who suffered a major crash during the final of his track event last week, struggled throughout and pulled out at about the halfway point of the race.

Earlier, Stephen Bate was forced to withdraw from the B road race as his pilot, Chris Latham, was unwell.