Cyclo-cross. Cycling. INTERVIEW – Clément Venturini: “If I lose the title of French champion?”

Clément Venturini, your 2025 season begins as usual very early with the French Cyclo-cross Championships, which will take place this Sunday, January 12 on the Pont-Château circuit. You are a double title holder, six times French champion in your career, how are you approaching this 2025 edition?

Like other years, with the desire to do well! As if I had never been champion of France, because we never get tired of it. I am proud to have already won this title six times, and if there is a seventh, that would be great. I practice cyclo-cross for pleasure and to energize my winter, and it is an important crossing point. Behind, there will be three more World Cup events and the World Championships in Liévin to try to finish in style. Because it is also a real personal objective to shine internationally.

With a seventh title in your pocket, this would make you the 2nd most successful rider in the history of French cyclo-cross (tied with Eugène Christophe, André Dufraisse and Roger Rondeaux), behind Francis Mourey’s nine titles. Is this a record that may interest you in the future?

In any case, that’s not what will motivate me on the starting line on Sunday. No matter the number, even if it’s always nice to win, personally my priority is to have that pedal stroke, that feeling that I’m looking for.

You did not do the 2023 European Championships on this Pont-Château circuit. Do you know him well and do his characteristics suit you?

My last appearance here must be in 2021, during the French Elite Championship (which he won, editor’s note). Pont-Château is known and recognized. I experienced great emotions there, and I hope to experience more this Sunday. It’s true that it’s a magnificent circuit, it represents a lot of things for me.

Last year, we remember your duel with Joshua Dubau. He will still be one of your main rivals on Sunday, how do you assess the competition in 2025?

Joshua will be a major opponent… but it’s not just him. We must not forget David (Menut), who is the best Frenchman internationally until today, Fabien Doubey, who has often been present during the French Championships, and others. The competition will be there, we must not neglect anyone. In 2024 we were able to see Théo Thomas who created a surprise by finishing 3rd. There may be riders who excel during the championships, so there won’t just be Joshua or David to watch at the start.

Where are you in your preparation? You resumed cyclo-cross quite late (in Troyes on November 23), did you plan to ramp up for the month of January?

Yes, returning to the Coupe de France in Troyes, it was hard to pretend to win having only returned to Cycling a month before, and without specific training. What should not be forgotten is that I am hired by Arkéa-B&B Hotels to shine on the road. And when we do the accounts at the end of the year, if it’s only the French CX Championships, my bosses are not going to be happy… So I can’t put everything into the month of January and make as if the season ended on Sunday or at the end of January, because the road season will resume at the end of February. So there you have it, it’s a desire on my part to do cyclo-cross, but I’m not playing my entire season on Sunday.

The other big event this winter is of course the World Championships organized in France in Liévin (January 31 – February 2). What are your ambitions for this unique moment at home?

It’s certain that it will be a major event and one that promises to be very good, it’s a real pleasure to race at home, we rarely have this chance. I am convinced that it will be great, plus Liévin is close to the Belgian border, so I imagine that all the Belgian fans will make the trip, even if they are sometimes a little chauvinistic… But it will be a very big weekend, good times to experience, but there will also be 3 rounds of the World Cup before that, i.e. 3 opportunities for me to shine on the international level, one of my big personal goals.

Concretely, are you aiming for a top 10, or even a top 5 as has already happened to you in 2022?

My place will be what it is. I’m not talking too much in terms of numbers, but more in terms of performance. The main thing is to have a very good athletic and technical level at that moment, to be the best possible, and the place will follow at the finish.

After cyclo-cross, there will of course be the 2025 road season to follow. How are you organizing yourself for this transition, do you already have a defined program, a break planned?

The break will be more on the mental level, because I will cut a few days, but the resumption will be at the end of February on the Drôme Ardèche, the Strade Bianche, Tirreno-Adriatico, then the Coupe de France events after… It there will be a big program behind it. There will therefore be a small break to breathe and regenerate before really sinking.

Despite your very versatile and fast profile, you haven’t raised your arms since 2018… We imagine that returning to success will be your main objective in 2025. Doesn’t that weigh on you too much after all these years of scarcity?

Yes, that’s for sure… Sunday’s race is super important, but if I lose my title of French champion and I win two races on the road, my season will be more than successful in all honesty… It’s true that I’m often present, but not a winner. When you see current cycling, it’s very hard to win. I had a decent 2024 season, with quite a few UCI points, and the team was very satisfied with it. But for my part, the results were a bit mixed, because I am indeed regular, but I would sometimes like to have that burst of brilliance. But that’s how it is, you also have to know how to admit defeat, when I lose to Arnaud De lie at Tro Bro Léon or Benoît Cosnefroy at Paris-Camembert, who are among the best in the world, it’s a small personal victory. Unfortunately, there are no longer any lower level races, they are all very tough and competitive. It’s hard to have good performances.

This is your second season at Arkéa, how did your integration go in 2024?

I was integrated rather well, I flourished within Manu’s team (Emmanuel Hubert, the general manager). I hope we will have a great 2025 season, everyone is motivated, we felt a real common goal during the pre-season training camp. We will all meet up on Monday (January 13) in Spain for the second preparation course. The season is already almost launched because Australia will arrive very quickly too.

Speaking of Emmanuel Hubert, your manager caused a lot of talk during the off-season by sounding the alarm about the danger that threatens French cycling in the long term. Have these statements impacted you and made you think, particularly with regard to your Arkéa-B&B Hotels team?

I’m 31 years old, and I’m pretty lucid. I’m not the boss of a team, but my parents were also business leaders, so I know what it is, it doesn’t fall from the sky and nothing is taken for granted. Especially in sport, a precarious environment. You should never rest on your laurels. Certainly, Manu made some rather striking statements this winter, he spoke to us a lot about that. But if it was just us, it would be known, there are plenty of other teams in the same situation but we don’t talk about it. It is also the game of high-level sport.

So that doesn’t worry you more than that for the future?

Yes and no. Obviously we run for a team, but we don’t have permanent contracts, which can be good or bad. The first goal remains to be efficient. If so, the team will shine. We are all in the same boat, whether it is the riders or the staff. Everyone wants it to succeed, because it would indeed be tragic if a team like Arkéa had to stop. But you shouldn’t think about that, quite the contrary. Manu will do like us, will fight to the end, and the future can only be good, I am sure.

To conclude, in this period of wishes and good resolutions, what can we wish you for 2025? What would make this season a successful season for Clément Venturini?

We often talk about that for best wishes, but I think that the basis of everything is to have very good health, especially by being sporty. Physical problems are part of high-level sport, so I would already like to be able to escape all that and then be able to have fun. Once we said that, we eliminated the two main concerns. If you combine these two ingredients, the recipe is generally good in the end.