Sarah Storey outsprints rival almost three decades her junior to land 19th Paralympic gold

Sarah Storey said she is not afraid to lose a bike race but that is easy to say when you have never lost one at the Paralympics.

You have to go all the way back to the 2006 World Championships for the last time Storey had to settle for silver at a major event and that was before she made her Paralympic debut on two wheels.

With the narrowest victory of her Paralympic road racing career, Storey won her 19th gold medal and her 14th in cycling.

She was pushed all the way by young French talent Heidi Gaugain, who was not even two years old when Storey was last beaten and was born 12 years after her rival made her Paralympic debut nine Games ago as a swimmer.

“The key is not to be afraid to lose a bike race,” said Storey, who is one of over 1,000 elite athletes on UK Sport’s National Lottery-funded World Class Programme, allowing them to train full time, have access to the world’s best coaches and benefit from pioneering medical support – which has been vital on their pathway to the Paris 2024 Games.

“I’m not afraid to lose a bike race, I have to trust myself and not overthink things and just go on instinct sometimes, that’s about racing.

“I just wanted to see what I had to respond. You put yourself out there every time you get on the start line and I keep doing that and keep finding ways to win a bike race so long may that continue.

“I think back to when I was 19. I had just come back from the Games in Atlanta, I had my fifth gold medal as a swimmer, and I was in the form of my life. When you’re up against a 19-year-old, you remember what that was like.

“Using that experience, the nippiness of a 19-year-old, I’m still nippy for a 46-year-old but I have to use it wisely.”

Storey narrowly beat Gaugain, with Colombia’s