Barley Ends Up Fourth

WAIS’s 37 year old Nigel Barley placed Fourth in his 64km H3 Road race at the Brands Hatch motor racing Circuit.

Barley won his first ever Paralympic medal when he finished second on Wednesday in the time trial. He had a strong start in the 64k but his rivals from Europe set a pace that was just a bit too fast to keep up with.

The gold medal was won by Poland’s Rafal Will who clocked 1:50:05 to finish 1:29 ahead of Germany’s Vico Merklein with Frenchman Joel Jeannot third at 3:32. Barley finished eight minutes behind Will.

“That was tough,” said Barley  after a hot and hilly race. “The boys that came first they’re machines hey? They’re just so fast on the climbs and they pulled away from us (on the) first couple of laps.”

“l stayed there for a while but then they got the better of me,” said Barley who dropped off the pace midway through the eight laps. “It was their day I suppose.”

Barley also had to contend with some mechanical woes during the race that saw him stop in the pits twice for rolling repairs.

“It was changing in the top end by itself all the time, changing, changing, changing (with) no rhythm,” he explained. “We tried to fix it and we fixed the top end and then it was changing down the bottom.

“It was just one of those days.”

“It was very hot, very hot (and) I prefer it to be medium warm,” he said of the conditions. “Hot makes you really thirsty and dry but that’s bike racing you can’t pick the weather you’ve just got to race in it.”

While hoping for a podium finish, Barley is still thrilled with his London debut performances.

“I’m stoked,” he said of his time trial silver medal performance. “That’s what I came here for, the road race was a bonus. I got what I came here for.

“Better luck next time so we’ll see how I go in Rio.”