Para Cycling International will be a 'game changer' for disability sport, insist Yorkshire 2019 organsiers

Organisers of the Para Cycling International in Yorkshire are hoping Saturday’s event that doubles up as a qualifying event for the Tokyo Paralympics will be a 'game changer' for disability sport.

The one-day event that is the first of its kind to run alongside the Road World Championships comprises races for four groups of riders with varying degree of disability. With tandems, tricycles, handcycles and bicycles simultaneously racing different courses it is little wonder Andy Hindley, CEO of Yorkshire 2019, has described the planning process as "logistically complicated".

Hindley, though, added that all the hard work and expense for the prelude to what the international Cycling Union (UCI) have described as the most inclusive world championships of all time will be "absolutely worth it".

"Hopefully we are changing the game," Hindley told Telegraph Sport. "We are raising the bar of what should be out there. Giving people the opportunity to see the Para-cyclists and give the athletes something they have been lacking for too long.

"We are not playing games here. We have a point-to-point Para race which has either never been done before or is extremely rare. Previously people have not been prepared to spend the money on a proper Para-cycling race.

"It has been an expensive project, but absolutely worth it, it is absolutely something that we should be doing. We are running this race just as we are doing with the road races in the world championships."

Despite coming a week after the Para-cycling Road World Championships when a number of riders, Hindley is buoyed by a "decent turnout" of 15 nations, just under a third of the number that featured in Holland.

"A lot of the athletes are self-funded or not as well-funded as they should be, so costs have been an issue for some of the riders. Some may have crashed at last week's championships. But the proximity of the two events to each other has helped, especially for those that travelled a long distance.

"We will be getting a decent turnout though, talented athletes and some up-and-coming riders from GB involved. We're pleased."

After adding two more world titles to her exhaustive palmarès in Holland last week, Sarah Storey will lead the charge for Great Britain in the C5 category of the 57km race.