Cyclist Kévin Le Cunff offered the French team an eighth gold medal at the Tokyo Paralympic Games on Friday by winning 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 line to win in the pouring rain after 92.5 kilometers (average: 41 , 1 km / h).
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"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 did not interest me", he delivers.
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.
"I came to get two or three medals ideally but I missed the first four events, I really had to catch up on the last and that's what happened."
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 on a sporting and human level", tells AFP the manager of the French para cycling team Laurent Thirionet.
Kévin Le Cunff took his first world podium in June at the world para cycling championships by winning a bronze medal.
"We thought he was going to break everything but he had a little trouble, described the day before the Games Laurent Thirionet. I think he's inherently stronger than everyone else but puts terrible pressure on himself that he can't handle. "
