Ronan Grimes' cycling career closed with an unfortunate mechanical as the Galway man finished in 17th position in the men’s C4-5 road race.
Racing around the 99.4km circuit in the Parisian suburb Clichy-sous-Bois, Grimes had been in 11th place going into the final lap before a puncture brought his challenge to an end.
Competing in his second Games on both the track and road, the 35-year-old was well positioned after blistering first lap, 17 seconds down on the race leader in sixth place.
The riders at the front worked together to maintain a steady pace and open up a lead, with Grimes nearly three minutes down by lap four.
The former world champion found his groove and looked poised to push on for a top-10 placing before disaster struck in the final 14.1km lap.
The race was won by Ukrainian Yehor Dementyev, with home favourite Kevin le Cunff of France taking silver and Martin van de Pol of the Netherlands third.
Ronan Grimes on the frustration of getting a puncture in the combined C4-5 race - but also the satisfaction in finishing what was his last race, with the Galway man confirming his retirement #RTEparalympics #paris2024
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"I'm finished now, I'm retired," Grimes said afterwards. "This is my last race. It was nice to finish my last race rather than finish it in the car.
"I'm happy, but also a bit disappointed. I would have liked to have finished top-10, that would have been a nice cherry on the cake, but overall, I look back fondly on this."
The mechanical on the final lap was a bitter pill to swallow, but Grimes, who has multiple World Championship top-10 placings to his name, was determined to cross the line.
"Starting the last lap, the neutral service car went between me and the three lads I was with in the gap ahead, and maybe 200 or 300 metres after that I punctured," he said.
"It felt like an hour but at least 20 minutes waiting for a wheel to come."
"I'd say the officials were upset with me wanting to finish it, but I really wanted to finish the race. I kept them waiting for a bit longer for me to finish."
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