Henderson defies injury for silver as Tarling suffers heartache

Cycling Road 27 Jul 24

Anna Henderson powered to a stunning silver but there was heartache for Josh Tarling on a mixed day of British cycling fortunes in a Parisian deluge.

Tarling was tipped in some quarters to end a Team GB opening day gold drought stretching back to Sydney 2000 but the 20-year-old Welshman suffered a puncture early in the men’s time trial and had to settle for fourth, missing out on a medal by an agonising 2.16 seconds.

Instead, it was Henderson, who thought her Olympic dreams may have been over when she broke her collarbone for the second time this year in May, who ensured there would be British representation in the medal ceremony.

Several of her rivals suffered falls as rain swept across the French capital but the former skier was able to stay on-piste and crossed Pont Alexandre III in 41:09.83, enough to edge out Chloe Dygert – who was among those to come off her bike – for silver by less than a second.

“Last year, I was two seconds from the bronze at Worlds, so I’m really happy to be on the right side of the seconds this time,” she said. “I’m really proud. 

“The second one (injury) mentally hurt a lot, and it really took a lot to get back and get the motivation again.

“But I always had Paris on my mind and that really carried me through, and I can’t stop mentioning the people around me who got me through.

“It (missing the Olympics) did cross my mind, it was a really low point of my season but I really bounced back quickly.

“I won at the nationals, had a really good ride at the Tour of Britain and had a really good run into this. I’m really happy with my form and really happy with my ride.”

Australia’s Grace Brown claimed gold, finishing more than a minute-and-a-half clear at the summit on a brutal afternoon across the 32.4km route.

American Taylor Knibb crashed three times – one of those saw her mechanic also take a tumble while coming to her aid – and her compatriot Dygert also took a heavy fall. 

Dygert was left limping at the finish line having recovered to finish the race, giving Henderson – who stayed on two wheels throughout – a nervy wait to discover what colour her medal would be.

“It was a bit confusing because the TV was really far behind and then I couldn’t see the board here,” she said.

“I knew I had a medal, which was an amazing thing in itself, then it was whether it was silver or bronze. To have the silver is even better.”

Tarling was expected to follow his fellow Brit onto the podium later in the afternoon and battled admirably to stay in contention for the duration of the race following his early mechanical setback.

But the puncture proved to be a fatal blow to his medal hopes as gold went to Belgium’s Remco Evenepoel.

“It happens, doesn’t it,” he said. “There’s not a lot I can do.

“It was hard to settle back down into a rhythm and stop thinking (about it) after that.

“Everyone else did such a good ride that it would have been hard to catch back up. Remco is such a classy rider and no-one can get close to him at the minute.

Tarling’s Olympics is not over and the Aberaeron ace has the chance to get back on the bike in next Saturday’s road race.

“I’ll switch off tonight and switch back on as soon as I can,” he said.

“I’ll try and forget it but I’ll watch it back as a fan, they all did amazing rides.”

Sportsbeat 2024

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