Cyclist Kévin Le Cunff offers the French team an eighth gold medal at the Paralympic Games in Tokyo (Japan) this Friday.
He won in the road race (category C4-C5).
Present among a group of five riders who broke away in the first part of the race, he made a final attack two kilometers from the finish to win in the pouring rain after 92.5 kilometers with a speed average of 41.1 km / h.
"We finish two and I go out two kilometers, I felt he was a bit in the rough," says Kévin Le Cunff.
“I came to win.
Even second, that didn't interest me, ”he says.
“I had come to do two or three medals ideally.
But I missed the first four events.
I really had to catch up on the last one and that's what happened.
"
From the able-bodied to the Paralympic world
This is the 33-year-old runner's first Paralympic Games.
Former professional within the Saint-Michel Auber team between 2017 and 2019, Kévin Le Cunff even has a victory among the able-bodied in the Buckles of the Alder in 2018 in front of the ex-champion of France Arthur Vichot and Guillaume Martin, eighth in the last Tour de France.
Born with two club feet, he underwent two arthrodesis on his ankles (blocked by operation) and retains an atrophied calf.
However, he only joined the world of disabled sports in 2020, no longer finding a professional contract.
“I told him that there was a real Paralympic project with Tokyo and then Paris and that it could change his life in sport and in human terms,” said the manager of the French para-cycling team Laurent Thirionet.
Kévin Le Cunff clinched his first world podium in June at the Para-cycling World Championships with a bronze medal.
"We thought he was going to break everything, but he had a bit of trouble," Laurent Thirionet explained on the eve of the Games.
I think he's inherently stronger than everyone else but puts terrible pressure on himself that he can't handle.
"
