Classification
Every athlete, who starts with paracycling, is classified initially by a national panel. To compete on the international level, one has to go through the international classificatnio by an UCI classification committee.
The committee decides, which race class the athlete will compete in. The decision is based on their examination and the MDF (Medical Diagnostics Form), a specific document, the athlete has to prepare for the classification.
The result can be "confirmed" right away, if the medical condition is clear, or "review" if the commitee wants to watch you compete, before the final decision.
Race classes
The classifiaction can result in the following classes for men (M) and women (W).
Tandem (B): blind and vision impaired athletes
Cycling (C): impairment of the movement range or coordination impairments, from C1 (highly impaired) to C5 (least impaired)
Handcycle (H): impairment of the lower body, mostly paraplegia, also from H1 to H5
Tricycle (T): restriciton of balance or coordination, only T1 and T2
For better recognizability, each class has their own helmet colour (shown in the grafic). In road races your helmet colour has to match your class.
Factorisation
In some cases, time trial events are organized with combined race classes. For these situations there are official factors calculated by the UCI, that make the results comparable, even with competitors from different classes (within one bike categorie). E.g. a MH5 rider can be compared with a WH4 rider or a MC3 with a WC5.
The fators very between road and track. Also they are updated from time to time based on latest results.
Road
Paracycling events are held on the road as well as on the track, but the disciplines differ. Let's start with the Road events:
Road events (B, C, H, T):
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Time Trial
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every one starts alone and goes as fast as possible from the start to the finish
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Road Race
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each race classe starts together, first one over the line wins
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Team Relay (only H)
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a team of 3 handcycler does a realy race on a loop
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Track
Only the classes C and B are cometing on the track. They ride with fixed gearde bikes, meaning they don't have shifting or breaks.
Track events (only B & C):
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200m fly + sprint
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200m with a flying start are done as a first ranking, the fastest 9 do a sprint tournement afterwards
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Team Sprint
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3 laps, every lap one athlete has to drop out of the "lead-out"
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B: one WB and one MB
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C: 3 athletes (mixed: at least one W, sum of the race classes not higher than 10)
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1k time trial
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1k as fast as possible
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4k persuit (only B)
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4k as fast as possible
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Sratch (only C)
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mass start, first one over the line wins
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Elimination (only C)
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mass start, every two laps the last one over the line drops out, last one standing wins
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Paracycling
Race Calender
The main events of a typical anual paracycling race calender are the following:
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Worldcups (two or three)
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Continantel Championships
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Road World Championships
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Track World Championships
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UCI C1/C2 races (road and track)
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additional there are a few national events, like national championships etc.
The UCI events are listet on their website. The smaler national events are mostly organised locally and - if any - hard to find in the internet.
LA
28
Paralympic
race mode
Every four years, parallel/right after the olympic games there are the paralympics. The competition mode is slightly different to Worldcups and Worldchampionships, because some race classes are combined. In timetrial events this is possible pretty fairly with factorisation. In massevents that makes it a lot harder for some classes to be competitive.
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Time Trial:
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MB, WB
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MC1, MC2, MC3, MC4, MC5, WC1-3, WC4, WC5
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MH1-2, MH3, MH4, MH5, WH1-3, WH4-5
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MT1-2, WT1-2
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Road Race:
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MB, WB
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MC1-3, MC4-5, WC1-3, WC4-5
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MH1-2, MH3, MH4, MH5, WH1-3, WH4-5
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MT1-2, WT1-2
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Team Relay
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mixed M/WH1-5
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1k timetrial
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MC1-3, MC4-5, WC1-3, WC4-5
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4k persuit
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MB, WB
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Sprint
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MB, WB
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Sratch
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MC1, MC2-3, MC4-5, WC1-3, WC4-5
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Elimination
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MC1-2, MC3-5, WC1-3, WC4-5
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Team Sprint
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mixed M/WC1-5
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