Like two weeks ago in Dijon-Prenois (read here), Valentin Remondet once again had to lose to Fabien Doubey, last Sunday, during the Burgundy-Franche-Comté Championship in Auxerre (see ranking). But this time, the member of Ardennes Cross Team Gecibat was not able to hold his wheel until the finish. “The circuit in Prenois was much less physical than here. There, it was more and more sticky and heavy as the laps went on. It needed power, I have little, he has a lot more than me. He couldn’t get any more on the part of the road up to the top.”he says into the microphone of DirectVelo.
The 25-year-old Côte d’Orien began to let go at the start of the third of seven rounds. “I was yo-yoing. I didn’t fart all of a sudden. When I got to the top, it took me a few meters. On the descent, I tried to come back. But I couldn’t do it anymore, too bad“. He needed to breathe during a rotation before taking his pace. “I was exhausted, I got up. Then I tried to continue hard and maintain the pace. But Fabien continued to dig… In addition, I made two or three technical errors in the last laps. I hung on to a post while going to look outside as it was muddy and I went off the rails.”
“ARRIVE A LITTLE COOLER IN France”
-Like Fabien Doubey (read here), Valentin Remondet also preferred to go to the Regional Championship rather than the World Cup in Dendermonde. “In Besançon, it was hard. My granddaughter fell ill and was hospitalized the week before Besançon. The preparation was not necessarily optimal. I felt tired, I preferred to take it easy and avoid traveling. That’s why I didn’t go to Belgium during the holidays to arrive a little fresher in France instead of doing a series of races and having rhythm but breaking down on the big day.”
The Pontchâteau circuit brings back good memories for him since he was not far from being a medalist for the Espoirs in 2021 during the last national meeting there (read here). “It’s going to be very open even if there are some big headliners. Someone you weren’t expecting at all can leave alone with a big group behind like (Clément) Lhotellerie 10 years ago (read here) and achieve a brilliant coup“. With what personal ambitions? “I’m not going there with the pretension of making a podium. A Top 5 would be good. But you have to be careful, I’m already going to try to get within 10”.
