Former paratrooper Jaco van Gass misses out on third Paralympic medal in Paris
Former Parachute Regiment soldier Jaco van Gass has missed out on a medal in the Men's C1-3 Road Race at the Paralympic Games in Paris.
The former soldier, who lost his left arm while serving in Afghanistan, was after his third gold medal of the games but, on this occasion, finished in sixth place with a time of 1:47:14.
His Team GB teammate Finlay Graham was the winner, collecting Great Britain's 43rd gold medal of the Paralympics.
'I completely miscounted the laps'
Van Gass was left rueing after the race as he explained how he miscounted the laps.
"I thought we had one more lap," he said. "I completely miscounted the laps, that's how delusional I am.
"Ben (Watson, Team GB teammate, who finished fifth) looked at me and asked if we were racing or coming in together and I had not heard the bell so had no idea it was the end.
"I switched off then because I was so cooked. Ben did the majority of the work on that last lap. His strength was the climbing and I was happy to take the flats.
"We all had busy schedules it's just one of those things that gets long."
Van Gass has already achieved success this Paralympics cycle winning two gold medals inside the velodrome.
The British para cyclist successfully defended both the titles he won in Tokyo, winning the Men's C3 3,000m Pursuit and the C1 to C5 750m team sprint.
Happy we got the result
Van Gass, despite missing out on more personal glory was happy for Team GB adding to their tremendous medal tally.
He said: "We're happy we got the result for GB though. Fin is up there so we're pleased."
Finlay Graham, 24, beat France's Thomas Peyroton-Dartet by less than a second, overtaking him on the home straight and improving on the silver he won in the event at Tokyo 2020.
It is Graham's second medal of the Paralympics, having won silver in the men's C3 3,000m individual pursuit.
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