He’s starting to get used to it. After his three silver medals in Tokyo (road race, time trial and relay), Frenchman Loïc Vergnaud is well on his way to doing the same in Paris three years later. After winning silver the day before in the time trial, the Roanne native tasted silver again in the road race. “The medal is beautiful,” the Frenchman savours. “In this race, silver is well worth gold, the Dutchman is so dominant.”
In a race made tricky by the weather conditions, the Frenchman had to slip through to avoid going off the road. Moreover, out of the seven competitors in this H5 category race, two had already been lost in the first of the four laps. Dutchman Tim de Vries hit the barriers, taking with him the Thai Sriwichai, who was following him, in his fall.
In a race reduced to five, the Frenchman has only one goal: to follow Mitch Valize, the Dutch monster, promised victory. “I hung on to his wheel as much as I could,” Vergnaud explains. “I knew that by staying with him, the others would be distanced. That’s what happened. It took a lot of effort.”
4 rounds instead of 5 due to bad weather
The Dutchman managed to widen the gap once the halfway point had passed. Heroically, Loïc fought to keep his new silver medal until the end in a race that was reduced by one lap (4 laps instead of 5 due to the weather conditions).
“It wasn’t so bad,” Vergnaud admits. “The race was already very tough. Before the race, I regretted that the organizers had shortened it, but in the end they were right. I was so happy to finish. Because I couldn’t take it anymore and I was exhausted.”
After missing out on gold again, Loïc Vergnaud savored his new silver medal at its true value. “I have no regrets. I can even say that I am very happy with the federation that gave us the means to succeed.”