Aubin Sparfel capped off his compatriots’ efforts in the team relay with an impressive run to resist the British and bring France the first gold medals of the 2024 UCI Cyclo-cross World Championships.
The French claimed the first rainbow jerseys of the 2024 UCI Cyclo-cross World Championships as they dominated the team relay on Friday, in Tábor (Czechia). Rémi Lelandais, Martin Groslambert, Célia Gery, Lauriane Duraffourg, Hélène Clauzel and Aubin Sparfel got the better of Great Britain (Zoe Bäckstedt, Corran Carrick-Anderson, Cat Ferguson, Oscar Ame, Anna Kay and Cameron Mason) and Belgium (Arthur Van den Boer, Ward Huybs, Shanyl De Schoesitter, Julie Brouwers, Sanne Cant and Michael Vanthourenhout) after six intense laps through the mud.
It is France’s first medal ever in the team relay. The Brits had already taken silver in 2023, ahead of Belgium with bronze.
“It’s just amazing,” Clauzel celebrated. “We wanted to win. Now, we are UXI World Champions! It’s incredible.”
“We know Aubin is super strong and we are very proud of him,” added Groslambert after his young countryman sealed the deal with an impressive final lap.
France starts strongly
Tactics played a strong part in the event, with each of the ten national teams lining up six riders, in the order of their choice, with one participant from each of the following categories:
Women Elite or Women Under 23;
Men Elite or Men Under 23;
Women Under 23 or Women Junior;
Men Under 23 or Men Junior;
Women Junior;
Men Junior.
Team GB were the only nation to start with a woman, Zoe Bäckstedt, a hot favourite for Sunday’s Women Under 23 individual race. At the end of the first lap, France’s Rémi Lelandais had set the strongest pace, closely followed by Poland and Italy.
Martin Groslambert maintained the French lead in the second lap. Under the impetus of Ward Huybs, Belgium moved up to 2nd (+6’’), ahead of Italy (+9’’). In 4th position, the USA trailed by 23’’ while Corran Carrick-Anderson handed things over in P6 (+57’’) for the Great Britain.
Many teams sent out their Juniors for the third lap and France’s Célia Gery – winner of this season’s UCI Cyclo-cross World Cup in the Women Junior category - had a stellar run. Halfway through the race, her team was 17’’ ahead of Czechia (thanks to a strong lap from 16-year-old Kryštof Bažant), and 20’’ ahead of the USA, benefiting from the efforts of Clara Honsinger (Women Elite).
Sparfel holds off Mason
Into the fourth lap, Oscar Amey (Men Junior) pulled the British team to the lead as he powered past France’s Lauriane Duraffourg (Women Under 23). Team GB had a gap of 20’’ when Anna Kay (Women Elite) set off for the penultimate lap, before the final run by Cameron Mason (Men Elite).
France and Great Britain swapped positions again in the fifth lap, as Hélène Clauzel (Women Elite) bridged the gap to Kay and built a lead of 7’’ for the last run. Her compatriot Aubin Sparfel has had a stellar season, with victories in the European Championships and three rounds of the UCI Cyclo-cross World Cup… But the Junior star had to resist his elders Mason (Men Elite), Belgium’s Michael Vanthourenhout (Men Elite), Canada’s Ian Ackert (Men Under 23) and Czech Republic’s Zdeněk Štybar (Men Elite), riding at home in his last UCI Cyclo-cross Worlds.
After 59 minutes of collective efforts, Mason was on Sparfel’s wheel. The Brit set the fastest time of the race in this final lap (9’13’’ to cover 2.95 muddy kilometres)… But the French youngster managed to resist his more seasoned rival all the way to the line, with a tight sprint for gold! Belgium took bronze with a gap of 32’’.
Action continues all weekend with the individual races:
Saturday: Women Junior (11:00), Men Under 23 (12:30) and Women Elite (14:30)
Sunday: Men Junior (11:00), Women Under 23 (12:30) and Men Elite (14:30).