Alex Zanardi won his second Paralympic gold of the London Games yesterday with victory in the handcycling road race at Brands Hatch, ahead of South Africa's Ernst van Dyk and Belgian Wim Decleir. .

"To win this race in this way, in such a dramatic way and sprinting makes me really proud," Zanardi said.

"It shows that I am a complete cyclist, even if I have no legs.

"The race did not go as I expected. I thought that I could take off soon and that I would only need to stay calm, but at the fourth lap I tested my opponents and understood my tactic would not work, so I changed it completely and only tried to save, save and save.

"I managed my energies well. It's been a tough race, I could have very well lost it."