Sunday, November 3, 2024 at 11:47 AM
Célia Gery can call herself European cyclocross champion among the promising women for a year. The only 18-year-old Frenchwoman rode a smart race, did not let herself be fooled along the way and defeated Marie Schreiber and Leonie Bentveld after an exciting three-way battle.
The 2024 European Cyclo-cross Championships are scheduled for early in the cyclo-cross season. The cross country circus has traveled to Spain, where the European titles were competed in Pontevedra. After a fairly quiet Saturday – with only the Mixed Relay – no fewer than six European titles were at stake today. At 11 a.m. the promising women were sent into the field for their European title battle.
Before the start, it turned out not to be so easy to identify a clear favorite. With Leonie Bentveld (Netherlands), Marie Schreiber (Luxembourg), Fleur Moors (Belgium) and Kristýna Zemanová (Czech Republic), several riders seemed evenly matched. And then we also had to look forward to French top talent Célia Gery and outsiders such as Lucia Bramati, Puck Langenbarg and Amandine Muller.
Schreiber – again – with a cannon start
As usual, Marie Schreiber took off like a rocket. The Luxembourgish flew out of the starting blocks and decided to take charge of the first round. Gery and Bentveld were also well away and were able to join their wagon with a rather unleashed Schreiber. The latter gave a lot of energy and quickly managed to separate the wheat from the chaff.
Marie Schreiber was – as always – very good at the start – photo: Cor Vos
After the first round the differences had already increased considerably. Gery, Bentveld and Zemanova followed in the footsteps of Schreiber – who clearly had no intention of slowing down – but the other riders were already facing a significant gap. Numbers five and six in the race – Moors and Viktória Chladoňová – followed within fifteen seconds. Langenbarg and Femke Gort rode within half a minute and seemed to be eliminated from the medals after one lap.
Which of the three
At the peak of the race, the tension was now high. Schreiber clearly felt comfortable on the fast course in Pontevedra and therefore took the initiative. With a few accelerations, the Luxembourgish tried to shake off her competitors, but Gery and Bentveld refused to yield. However, this turned out to be the sporting death knell for Zemanova. The Czech caught her breath, lost more and more ground and would never see the front of the race again.
Leonie Bentveld played a leading role in Pontevedra – photo: Cor Vos
And so there remained three potential European champions, with Schreiber, Bentveld and Gery. Schreiber apparently had little confidence in her sprint, because she kept pounding the lead, hoping to cut off the breath of her two remaining competitors. However, the apparently stoic Gery did not budge, let Schreiber do the dirty work and decided to save all her strength for the sprint.
Gery is the fastest and smartest
This turned out to be the right racing tactic, because the race also turned into a sprint with three. Schreiber was the first to turn onto the final straight, but was no match for the much faster and smarter Gery. The Frenchwoman ultimately won and immediately triumphed in her first participation in an international championship among the promises, after she was the best at the European Cyclo-Cross Championships for juniors last year.
Schreiber narrowly missed out on the European title and finished second, while the battle-weary Bentveld had to settle for a bronze medal. Zemanova and Moors complete the top 5.
photo: Cor Vos
