Dame Sarah Storey withdraws from Para-Cycling World Championships

Dame Sarah Storey has today announced her withdrawal from the UCI Para-Cycling Road World Championships scheduled to take place in Canada between August 29 and September 1.

This comes not long after Storey pledged to ride after giving birth to her first child earlier this month.

It was just three days after being named in the five-rider GB squad for the championships that the 35 year old tweeted that she and her three time Paralympic Champion husband Barney had become parents to baby girl Louisa.

But due to the emergency caesarian section and the minimum twelve-week recovery period, competing at the championships had become unrealistic.

"My decision to withdraw from the Road World Championships was an easy one as Louisa was born by emergency Caesarian Section and the post operative rehab takes place over a twelve-week period," she said.

British Cycling Para-Cycling Performance Manger Gareth Sheppard fully supports Storey's decision and hopes to see a return to competition later this year.

"We fully understand and support Sarah's decision," he said. "We hope Sarah enjoys some quality family time, and we look forward to having her back".

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