Devon Briggs wins the MC3 10km scratch race at the para-cycling world championships in Rio de Janeiro. Photo: Simon Wilkinson/SWpix.com
New Zealand finally bagged their gold medal on the final day of the para-cycling world championships as Devon Biggs powered past his rivals in Rio de Janeiro.
The Cambridge rider unleashed a sprint on the final lap to win the MC3 10km scratch race, lifting New Zealand's tally to 13 medals at the four-day meet.
They finished with eight silver and four bronze, with only Biggs climbing to the top step of the podium.
It was second successive world championship track title for the 21-year-old after success at the same velodrome last year.
Victory came as a relief to Biggs after injury ruined his hopes of competing at last year's Paralympics.
"Overall it has been an amazing week. For me it has been a week of highs and lows," Briggs said.
"Today I took expectation out of the race and went out and enjoyed the race and managed to race well and win.
"I rode a good strong race and had a good sprint at the end. And I get to wear the rainbow jersey for another year."
The two other medals on the final day were both bronze in the same combined 10,000m race - to Waikato's Nicole Murray in the C5 class and Rotorua's Siobhan Terry in the C4 class.
It was Murray's fourth medal of the week and Terry's third.
New Zealand head coach Brendon Cameron was pleased with the results at a meet which featured several new events, including longer distance races and an elimination race.
"It was a good four days with a new format and some new races in the UCI calendar with most of these to be raced at the 2028 Paralympic Games in Los Angeles," Cameron said.
"With the new events we altered our training, and raced at local able-bodied races at club and provincial level and worked more on our tactical and technical things.
"The best takeaway from the four days here has been all the individual efforts timewise. Every athlete here had PBs - and most of them have been in the programme for a few years, so the results are really encouraging."
Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
