Irish duo Katie-George Dunlevy and Linda Kelly have won their second gold medal at cycling’s world road championships in Zürich, Switzerland, soling to a sensational victory in the women’s B (tandem) road race on Wednesday morning.
The duo attacked on the penultimate lap of four, having earlier gone clear with Ireland team-mates Josephine Healion and Eve McCrystal, plus big rivals Sophie Unwin and Jenny Holl.
Dunlevy and Kelly forged ahead of the other two tandems before the start of lap four, crossing the finish line three seconds ahead there and continuing to build their lead.
Unwin and Holl ultimately finished 1 minute 23 seconds behind with Healion and McCrystal taking a fine bronze, 16 seconds further back.
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“I am absolutely over the moon,” said Dunlevy, who has the sight-limiting condition retinitis pigmentosa. “To have two bikes on the podium, us and then Eve and Josie, it was just textbook. It was what we were hoping for, what we were dreaming of.
“We were hoping to get that in Paris and we didn’t, we came away with silver. I was disappointed in Paris not to defend my title. But to do it here at the worlds, I am so proud of us. It was an amazing race. I really enjoyed the course, it was a bit of everything, and just really exciting.”
Dunlevy and Kelly won gold in the time-trial on Sunday, having done the same in the Paralympics TT in September.
They were beaten by Unwin and Holl in the road race in Paris, making Wednesday’s victory all the sweeter.
The Irish duo also won the road race last year in Glasgow, successfully defending their title this time around.
Dunlevy suffered a fractured collarbone in the run-up to the Paralympic Games, and herself and Kelly had several other crashes. The latter suffered from concussion in one race, while illness also affected their build-up.
“We did have a good think about it afterwards when we got home,” Kelly said. “Before we got here we had a chat with our coach and a chat with our team-mates as well, Eve and Josie, just talking about tactics and power and speed and what you do around the course. And the type of course it is as well.
“We did play to our strengths up the hills, and also going very fast down the descents as well. We were hitting 70 to 80ks per hour, a lot of turns. We are just so happy to come back and do the double two years in a row.”
Healion and McCrystal will savour their bronze medal and the achievement of putting two Irish bikes on the podium.
McCrystal is bowing out of international competition at 46 years of age. She partnered Dunlevy for many years, securing three Paracycling gold medals plus several world titles.
She then switched to racing with Healion in road events as part of a tactic to chase more medals and also to share her experience and build towards the future.
The bronze medals are a fitting reward for a lot of hard work. They were fourth in last year’s world championship road race, fourth in the Paralympic Games road race and again fourth last Sunday in the time trial, but stepped up a level on Wednesday for McCrystal’s swansong event.
As for Dunlevy, she is 42 years of age but will continue in the sport. It’s not yet clear if she will keep racing until the next Paralympic Games in Los Angeles in 2028, but she will be back in 2025 chasing more gold medals.
“[We will have] a long deserved break,” she said. “It’s been a long, hard year for us. We have had crashes on the bikes, illness ... mentally it has been a tough year. Mentally it’s hard to prepare yourself for these races. It takes a toll on the body.
“So we’ll have a nice break and get back to it again for next year.”
What will help with motivation is having had such a good season. She and Kelly raced to gold and silver in Paris, with one final collaboration between Dunlevy and McCrystal also securing silver in the team pursuit.
Dunlevy now has two more gold medals to her credit.
“It’s a dream, really,” she said. “Three months ago I was in a hospital bed, so to come here and to get three medals in Paris and then be double world champions here, I am kind of lost for words. It means an awful lot. I am very happy.”
Next up in cycling’s road world championships are the junior road races on Thursday. Lucy Bénézet Minns, Aliyah Rafferty and Áine Doherty go in the women’s event, and Patrick Casey, Seth Dunwoody, David Gaffney and Cal Tutty will line out in the junior men’s race.
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