Cold and dry weather conditions made the lap in the parc de Croix Cordier quite fast, there were 7 laps to go for the ladies and the juniors. 3 ladies and 3 juniors took the start to ride for the win of the race. In the female category, Vicky Fournial, former champion in junior-women category, was the only real adversary and so my aim was to be as far as possible in front of the scratch classification.

We started 1’ before the elite/under 23 categories and I entered the pits for the first time in 3rd position, just behind 2 junior men. In the beginning of lap 2, after the running-passage of the stairs, I had some problems finding my pedal and Vicky took advantage of this to pass me.

Meanwhile, the first elite riders caught back on us and I tried to use this to get back to Vicky. I caught her in the beginning of lap 4 and immediately countered when I saw that she was struggling. Right away, I had a dozen seconds advantage and it grew to 38 seconds in the beginning of the next lap.

In this fifth lap, I also caught back the leading junior and passed the line in first position. The young rider tried to oppose, but I felt good on this circuit and built out my lead to over 40 seconds entering the last lap.

I finished 1st in scratch with over a minute advantage on the first junior (Vicky had abandoned the race soon after I dropped her).

Even if it was only a regional race, I’m happy about my performance and it gives me confidence for the next, tougher cross races in Belgium.

Hereby, please read the press release in french of the race in Tinqueux by the news paper "L'Union" (published February 1st 2012)