Dorian Foulon

Started: He took up cycling in 2010 at the Cyclisme de Malestroit club in La Chapelle-Caro, France. He began competing in 2014. (leploermelais.fr, 02 Feb 2016; urtvelo64.com, 10 Feb 2015) Reason: He was inspired to start cycling by his mother, who used to go mountain biking. He was later introduced to Para cycling by Christophe Dizy, president of the Urt Velo 64 cycling club in France. (velo101.com, 06 Feb 2019; leploermelais.fr, 02 Feb 2016) Ambition: To win two gold medals at the 2024 Paralympic Games in Paris, and to compete in non-Para track cycling at the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles. (Agefiph YouTube channel, 25 May 2023; 20minutes.fr, 23 Mar 2023) Milestones: In 2019 he became the first Para cyclist to take part in the non-Para road cycling Tour de l'Avenir U23 competition. (uci.org, 05 Sep 2019) Additional Info: MOVING AWAY FROM HOME In 2014 he moved to Bayonne, France, in order to train with the Urt Velo 64 club. He enrolled in the specialised Para cycling prospects academy there, which is the first of its kind in France. He lived and studied at a boarding school during the week and stayed with a host family at weekends. (leploermelais.fr, 02 Feb 2016; culturesport.net, 04 May 2015) NON-PARA CYCLING He regularly trains and competes with non-Para cyclists. "When I began competing in cycling as a child, I didn't even know there were Para cycling competitions. I was classified in Para sport after doing some tests. I take part in Para cycling but that does not prevent me from competing with able-bodied cyclists. Actually, if I want to have better results in Para cycling I must train with able-bodied cyclists." (team-arkea-samsic.fr, 28 Jun 2019)