France's Dorian Foulon celebrates after winning gold medal . GETTY IMAGES

Britain tasted sour defeat on Saturday in the Paris velodrome, where local hero Dorian Foulon again claimed the Paralympics title in the C5 4000m individual pursuit and Slovakia's Jozef Metelka cruised in the 4000m event.

In the cycling-mad country, Foulon capped an impressive display for French riders in front of thousands of fans at the Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines indoor venue and Gatien Le Rousseau added a bronze medal in the men's C1-3 1000m time trial behind winner Metelka and British silver medallist Archie Atkinson.

It was the final race of the day and Foulon had the French flags flying in the stands as he defended his C5 4000m individual pursuit title won at a supporter-less Tokyo Games in emphatic fashion by beating Ukraine's Yehor Dementyev. "There are a lot of differences between the titles. The big difference is the crowd, it's crazy. People had t-shirts with my name on. What is this madness?" Foulon joked after failing to stop the tears during the medal ceremony.



On top of Le Rousseau,  the well-supported Alexandre Leaute also took a bronze for France in the men's C1-3 1000m time trial while Li Zhangyu collected gold for China.

As for the Brittons’ disappointing results, 20-year-old Atkinson had to accept silver after slipping and falling dramatically off his bike in the C4 4000m individual pursuit, won by Metelka while his rival was lying on the track. "I think I'm OK after the crash, I can see and I’m all in one piece," Atkinson, who has cerebral palsy, attention deficit disorder and is autistic, told British broadcaster Channel 4. "I've never dug that deep before," he added.



South African-born British national Jaco Van Gass finished fourth in the men's C1-3 1000m time trial after having clinched gold in the C3 3000m individual pursuit final on Friday. The 38-year-old, who lost his lower left arm in 2009, clocked a world record time but dropped out of medal positions due to the Paralympic track cycling classification system. "It's heartbreaking to be very honest," Gass said. "It's just the factoring system, it shows that they don't quite have it right. To ride a world record and not be right in the medals, it shows that the factoring system needs a bit of work."

China's Wangwei Qian, Australia's Amanda Reid, Germany's Maike Hausverge. GETTY IMAGES
China's Wangwei Qian, Australia's Amanda Reid, Germany's Maike Hausverge. GETTY IMAGES

In the only women's race of the day, Australian Amanda Reid defended her C1-3 500m title. She was competing 12 years on from taking part in the swimming at the London Paralympics. "I tried not to think about the pressure coming into the Games," Reid said. "It happened that I went back-to-back gold, it blows my mind."