U.S. Road Cyclists Scored A Preview Of Paris Paralympics Course: Here’s What They Saw

A taste of Paris arrived nearly four months early for an American contingent of world cup cyclists.

Samantha Bosco headed to the Eiffel Tower.

Jamie Whitmore, who was in Paris for the first time in 26 years, went to the Arc de Triomphe.

Brandon Lyons, a two-time world championships medalist who will make Paralympic debut this summer, visited the Notre-Dame cathedral.

But this wasn’t exactly a redo of “European Vacation.” In the week between world cup stops in Ostend, Belgium, and Maniago, Italy, in May, U.S. Paralympics Cycling arranged for the world cup team to preview the road race and time trial courses that will be used for the Paralympic Games Paris 2024 in early September.

“This is the first time before a Games, since I’ve been a part of this program, that we’ve had this opportunity,” said Whitmore, who won a gold and silver medal in her 2016 Paralympic debut in Rio. “It’s huge for anyone who makes the team.”

Handcyclist Oksana Masters, the reigning Paralympic champion in the time trial H4-5 and road race H5, called the opportunity to preview the course “huge” and “a peace of mind.”

“You can go in and relax,” the 17-time Paralympic medalist, across three sports, said, “focus on your race, your numbers.”

Samantha Bosco, a 2016 Paralympic medalist who will compete in both the road and track portions of the cycling competition this summer in Paris, said testing the road course was “fun” after previously racing at the French capital for the 2022 track cycling world championships.

“Getting to go there again after getting to go in ‘22, it just felt really nice to be back,” said Bosco, who won three silver medals in the 2022 track worlds.

Joining the cyclists in their trip to Paris was Ian Lawless, director of U.S. Paralympics Cycling.

Now that the Olympic and Paralympic Games are less than 100 days away, Bosco said you can see excitement building around the city.

“They are setting up for the Games,” she said. “They have all the signage. You could tell that people are excited about the Games coming. It was even more fun to be there because it had the vibe of something grand coming right around the corner.”

The road competitions will take place Sept. 4-7 in the last few days of the Paralympic Games. The 13.9-kilometer loop course, which features a climb of 140 meters, begins and finishes in Clichy-sous-Bois, an eastern suburb of Paris, with riders navigating through both urban high-rise neighborhoods and the nearby Bondy forest.

French cyclist Kevin Le Cunff, a road race gold medalist in Paris, described the course as “beautiful” and diverse.

“At 97.3 kilometers, it’s the longest I’ve ever ridden on the international circuit,” he said in a statement following the course’s introduction last fall. “And at the same time, it’s still a dynamic route for punchers, with two real climbs that will really wear you out. If you add to that the technical urban sections and the relaunches that each bend imposes on us, we really have the opportunity to express ourselves and have fun.”

The American riders concurred after their recent visit.

“I loved the course because it had a little of everything, from a couple punchy steep hills to fast decent turns and even a small cobblestone section,” Whitmore said. “In one section it even had a forest feel versus the rest of the course, which went straight through neighborhoods. I would have to say, out of the three Games during my time and including this one, this is the best course we’ve had.”

“It has something for everybody,” added Bosco, who has won all four road world titles available in her classification since coming back from a serious training accident that kept her out of the Paralympic Games Tokyo 2020. “It has technicality, it has climb, it has really nice scenery that we probably won’t watch when we’re racing. It has places for spectators to watch athletes race by.”

In some places spectators will be very close to the racing due to the tightness of some of the residences and buildings in Clichy-sous-Bois.

“We literally ride in front of people’s homes,” Whitmore said. “It reminded me of my early days in triathlon when the bike courses run through neighborhoods.”

“It’s really cool,” added Masters. “It’s in a very diverse area, and that’s one thing that’s really cool about what Paris is doing and where cycling is.”

After testing out the course, the athletes spent a day in Paris before heading to Maniago for the World Cup Final. Results from three world cup stops, plus a Paralympic selection event scheduled for July in California, helped determine the roster spots for the Paralympic Team.

“Being there definitely motivated a lot of us to push harder to try and make the team,” Whitmore said.

Bosco responded by winning the road race and time trial in Maniago. Also reaching the top of an individual podium in the final world cup were Masters as well as handcyclist Kate Brim and tricyclist Dennis Connors.

Paul D. Bowker has been writing about Olympic and Paralympic sports since 1996, when he was an assistant bureau chief in Atlanta. He is a freelance contributor to USParaCycling.org on behalf of Red Line Editorial, Inc.