French sweep juniors event at cyclocross world championships

ST. WENDEL, Germany (VN) — France’s Clément Venturini led a three-up French sweep of the juniors’ men’s event at the 2011 world cyclocross championships Saturday in St. Wendel, Germany.

Venturini emerged the victor, finishing 15 seconds ahead of twin brothers Fabien and Loic Doubey, in large part to having the good fortune to avoid the troubles that had plagued the rest of the field.

Sunshine and slightly warming conditions in St. Wendel created a slippery sheen of mud atop a frozen surface, creating problems for many, especially at a small, but ugly off-camber rise in the first kilometer of the 2.8km route.

That the seemingly insignificant bump on the course would be a factor quickly became apparent as riders charged through their first pass across the barriers and a traffic jam formed just after leaders crested the little climb. The angle, coupled with an increasingly slimy surface, left riders wallowing about in the muck, with many trying frantically to extricate bikes caught up in the bright orange crowd-control netting lining the course.

“I was lucky to be in the front group when we came through the first time,” Venturini said. “At that point all I tried to do was look ahead and concentrate on finishing well.”

Strong start

Venturini was in a strong position at the start, with a spot relatively close to the front. As the main field charged through the half-lap of a running track on the start, Venturini held his position as Switzerland’s Lars Forster led the field onto the dirt and twisting route that led to the first — and only — set of artificial barriers. Those posed no problem, but the aforementioned rise threw much of the field into turmoil once the leaders had passed it.

Venturini stayed near the front and said even he had difficulty when the lead group hit the little rise.

“It was different this morning when I first rode it,” he said. “It was much more slippery and I could feel myself sliding at times. I think I may have chosen the wrong tires, with the changing conditions.”

Small slips aside, though, Venturini was safe among a small group of early leaders — Forster, Swiss teammate Fabian Lienhard, the Czech Republic’s Vojtech Nipl and a crew of the ubiquitous Belgians, including Laurens Sweeck, Michael Vanthourenhout and Yorben Van Tichelt.

Behind, riders crashed, tried to recover and walk, and then found themselves sliding backwards through the muck that one observer described as “waxy mud … frozen ground with a sheen of mud on top for good measure.”

From there on out, it was more a battle of attrition with an emphasis on luck and skillful bike handling.

After two laps, the lead group had been trimmed to just five riders and Van Tichelt made an aggressive move, bunny-hopping the barriers and then charging into the now-infamous off-camber. The effort paid off, as only Venturini was able to stay with him.

However, within a lap, just as a chase group was beginning to reconnect, Van Tichelt appeared to suffer a mechanical, riding into the pits waving one arm, and Venturini was left on his own.

“I just kept thinking that I had to make time,” Venturini said. “I didn’t know who was behind me, I just knew I couldn’t afford to lose time.”

He did lose time, though, crashing first on the second run into the pits and then on the penultimate lap right on that little off-camber.

“I kept thinking I should just run up this thing,” he said. “I didn’t want to lose any time doing that, but it kept getting slipperier. I had managed to get up it pedaling hard and then kicking with my left leg near the top … but this time I fell into the netting.”

Venturini remained calm as he tugged his bike from the orange web with a fan’s assistance.

Back on the bike, Venturini rode on, soon to discover that the chase behind him had been winnowed to just two — both of them his teammates, the Doubey twins.

The two had not spent any of the year riding together and it was “a pleasant surprise to find myself riding with my brother … and with a teammate up ahead,” said Fabien Doubey.

It was only after he made it through the dicey section near the second pits that Venturini allowed himself to celebrate. With about 350 meters to go, he made the turn onto the running track and finished a comfortable 15 seconds ahead of his compatriots, ample time to celebrate his win and then to stand with arms outspread welcoming the brothers as they rounded out the podium for France.

“We wanted to ride as a team,” said Loic Doubey. “We did, and this is as much a victory for our teammates Quentin (Jauregui) and Kevin (Bouvard) as it is for the three of us.”

Some of that credit has to go to the weather, the luck and that darn off-camber bump in the road.

FILED UNDER: Cyclocross / News / Race Report TAGS: Cyclocross World Championships

Charles Pelkey

Charles Pelkey joined VeloNews in 1994 after serving as press secretary for former GOP Whip Alan K. Simpson in the U.S. Senate. Pelkey has worked as a journalist since 1985 and held a number of editorial positions at VeloNews including Senior Editor of VeloNews.com. Pelkey earned a JD from the University of Wyoming College of Law and lives in Laramie, Wyoming, with Diana, his wife of 25 years, and their two children, Philip and Annika, whose presence serves as a constant reminder of what really matters. Pelkey left VeloNews in July, 2011, but continues to be a regular contributor. Charles can now be found at liveupdateguy.com

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