Mathieu Warnier, Media365: published on Saturday September 28, 2024 at 8:40 p.m.
Twelfth at the finish of a race won by Lotte Kopecky, Juliette Labous leaves the Worlds with disappointment. For her return to the road, Pauline Ferrand-Prévot confided that she had difficulties while she hoped to help her teammates.
The Blues hoped for much better. Coming to Zürich with the ambition of playing the leading roles, Paul Brousse’s runners ultimately had to settle for runners-up. Finishing in a group three minutes behind Lotte Kopecky, who kept her rainbow jersey after a movement race, Juliette Labous could not do better than eleventh position. In conditions that she readily describes as “dantesque”, the leader of the French collective assured that she had the legs to do better. “I felt really good, I made a few extra efforts but I didn’t really know what the girls were like and I quickly realized that it was just Evita Muzic and me,” he said. -she confided in comments collected by the specialized site Cyclism’Actu. So I tried to run economically because in the penultimate lap I felt really good, I even managed to follow the favorites but in the last lap, I missed a little bit. , Shame. » Despite everything, the native of Besançon does not leave Zürich with regrets, simply “disappointed not to have hooked the group in front but that’s how it is”.
Ferrand-Prévot: “I thought I would do better”
Within the French team, the attraction was Pauline Ferrand-Prévot. Two months after her Olympic title in mountain biking, the future member of the Visma-Lease a Bike team reconnected with the road during these Worlds. If she had stated before the start that she was there to help her teammates, the Rémoise was not able to follow through with her idea. “It’s a mixed start to the school year, because I thought I would do better,” she confided in comments collected by the channel Eurosport. But it’s been years since I last raced on the road and it will take time for that to come back. It just makes me want to work more for the winter. » A race of which she did not see the finish after being left behind with around 80 kilometers still to go due to gastric problems linked to a lack of experience in such long races. “I wanted to eat a lot to prepare for the end of the race but I was not able to digest it at all,” she revealed. I threw up, so there it was, that wasn’t possible. » While she aims to win the Tour de France Femmes, “PFP” will be able to learn lessons from this return to the road after having devoted herself to mountain biking for many years.
