2023-08-03 04:00:02
More than 200 world champion titles will be awarded in Glasgow between August 3 and 13, and the Blues have serious candidates for the rainbow jerseys.
For ten days, Glasgow will have a French accent. From August 3 to 13, Scotland’s largest city is hosting the first “Super” World Cycling Championships. On the program, almost everything you do on a bike: road, track, mountain bike and BMX. Two hundred titles will be awarded in 10 days, one year before the Olympic Games. And, good news, France should collect some, thanks to its many headliners.
Road: choice outsiders
With three medals, including two titles, over the last three editions, the French men’s road cycling team will inevitably be expected at these Worlds. To hope for a new result, coach Thomas Voeckler has given himself the means, with a team that will have several cartridges. Crowned in 2020 and 2021, Julian Alaphilippe will be the figurehead, after a frustrating Tour de France but during which he has always been on the attack. At his side, Christophe Laporte will be a co-leader of choice, especially if the title is played in a sprint, just like Bryan Coquard, to a lesser extent.
Coming as teammates in Glasgow, Valentin Madouas and Benoit Cosnefroy could take advantage of running movements to create a surprise. In the time trial, Rémi Cavagna, reigning French champion on the clock, can also aim for a medal. On the men’s side, it is therefore a dense team that is advancing, and carrying real hopes of medals. On the women’s side, after a women’s Tour de France concluded without the slightest victory, the three riders expected will be Juliette Labous (Team DSM, 5th in the Tour), the experienced Audrey Cordon-Ragot (Human Powered Health), and Cédrine Kerbaol (Ceratizit- WNT).
Mountain biking: the French are scary
The failure of zero medals collected at the Tokyo Games remains fresh, but tricolor mountain biking is nevertheless doing well, and can nurture great ambitions at these Worlds. In cross-country, the two French stars, Loana Lecomte (2nd in the World Cup) and Pauline Ferrand-Prévot (13 world champion titles), are the scarecrows of the women’s circuit, with the Dutch Puck Pieterse. For men, Jordan Sarrou (2020 world champion) is currently leading the World Cup, not to mention Victor Koretzky, Joshua Dubau or Thomas Griot, capable of anything in one race.
In downhill mountain biking, a non-Olympic discipline, France has dominated the circuit for years. Injured, the headliner Amaury Pierron, defending champion and winner of the 2018 and 2022 World Cup, will not be there. But the Blues can still count on Loïc Bruni and Loris Vergier (among others), who are among the first four in the World Cup, to get the rainbow jersey on the Fort William track, north of Scotland. Current sixth in the World Cup, Marine Cabirou can also dream of a podium.
Track: safe bets, and bets
We do not get too wet by writing that the Marseillaise should resonate at the Glasgow velodrome. It remains to be seen in which discipline, since track cycling is full of them. But whether in sprint or endurance, the French hopes for medals are numerous, and justified. On the speed side, Mathilde Gros will defend her title in the sprint, while aiming for a first world crown in the keirin, while Marie-Divine Kouamé will challenge hers in the 500m. On the men’s side, European multi-medalists Sébastien Vigier and Melvin Landerneau will be aiming for a first rainbow jersey.
But it is on the endurance side that the chances of medals are the most numerous, especially in the men’s team. Holder of the title in omnium and in the American, Benjamin Thomas will be the main Frenchman to follow on the track, with Donavan Grondin, already crowned in scratch and in the American. On the women’s side, Marie Le Net, Victoire Berteau and Clara Copponi will want to justify their high ambitions for the 2024 Olympics.
BMX: a rain of suitors
A true American dream, this is what is expected for the French BMX teams in Glasgow. On the freestyle side, Anthony Jeanjean, triple European and French freestyle park champion, reigning bronze medalist, will be eagerly awaited on Monday 7 August. Among the women, it is Laury Perez, double bronze medalist at the European championships, who will carry the hopes of the tricolor. In BMX freestyle flat, world champion Aude Cassagne is putting her title on the line, alongside Louise Seigneur, reigning European vice-champion.
But BMX is also Racing, this spectacular race with the air of boardercross on a snowboard. A discipline that has often seen the Blues shine, and the French men’s team in Glasgow is once again very dense. With three of the top four in the World Cup standings, namely Romain Mahieu (1st), Joris Daudet (2nd) and Sylvain André (4th), the Tricolores almost have the obligation to bring back a medal
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