With the 2023 UCI Cycling World Championships less than a month away, we spoke to the 2022 UCI Mountain Bike Cross-country Marathon (XCM) World Champions, France’s Pauline Ferrand-Prévot and New Zealand’s Sam Gaze.
How is your form?
Pauline Ferrand-Prévot (PFP): We’re trying to build the best condition. This year I changed almost everything: I changed trainer, bike, transmission, suspension, so it’s kind of a new everything for me so this is about trying new things and seeing if we can make it work.
Sam Gaze (SG): It’s been a good season so far, I didn’t have the surgeries that I had to deal with last year, but I’m slightly disappointed with the results so far. From a training standpoint it’s going well, so I’m still very confident for the UCI World Championships, but I would have liked a bit more luck than so far this season.
What do this year’s UCI Cycling World Championships mean for you?
PFP: Right now I don’t know if I will ride the Marathon at the UCI Cycling World Championships, it’s early in the schedule (6th August), so we still need to discuss this more closer to the time with my coach, so maybe it can be good... Olympic [cross-county Olympic – XCO] is my main focus.
SG: This year the plan is to race the short track [cross-county short track – XCC] and the XCO. We were fortunate last year with the timing of the Marathon. With the Olympics being ‘just around the corner’ it’s clear that my focus is on the XCO, and also great to be able to compete in the XCC, but without the physical load of the Marathon. It’s a celebration of the sport. I’m really looking forward to being part of the ‘Super Worlds’!
Is it hard to defend the jersey?
PFP: It’s more pressure, but you have the jersey all year and that’s super nice. At the start you think about all the races you did that year with the jersey, and you just want to keep it. SG: I’ve successfully defended a UCI World Champion title in the past, and the Commonwealth Games title, but my outlook is that I’m not defending a UCI World title, I have the opportunity to win a new one. It’s easier to be the hound rather than the hare and take the weight off my shoulders.
How can you be in the best shape for XCC and XCM at the same time?!
PFP: I think I’m the kind of rider who is good at everything, but not the best. Say with climbing. I’m not a true climber, but I can climb well. And sprinting, not the best, but I’m good. Also downhill, I’m quite average… but as a rider I’m quite good at everything, so I can be good in both the Marathon and the short races.
SG: It was definitely a very interesting few weeks of my life! I was really focussed on the cross-country Olympic UCI World Title – and for the short track, I’m naturally quite an explosive rider, which is fortunate. The XCO I was 100% committed to it but obviously I crashed in that race and broke a collarbone and two ribs, which was heartbreaking.
After that injury I really focussed on the Marathon UCI World title and put all the mental energies into preparing for a top, top performance. To be able to fight back like that is one of my finest achievements on the bike.
What other events would you want to watch?
PFP: It’s always interesting and I love cycling in general. I like the road races, so whenever I’m not racing I will watch what I can. Also my boyfriend [Dylan van Baarle, winner of Paris-Roubaix in 2022] is in the road race, so I can watch that!
SG: I love racing on the road, it’s been ingrained in me since a kid; my Alpecin–Deceuninck teammate Mathieu Van der Poel, to see him win a world title on the road, that would be very special! But also I used to race BMX Racing when I was a kid, and the riders now are amazing. And with Cycling New Zealand, we have a lot of great track riders so to be able to support the Kiwis would be really nice.
Who should we watch out for in the Marathon?
SG: Andreas Seewald (2021 UCI XCM World Champion), he’s an incredible athlete, when he came back to me in the last 10k. He’s impressed me! Then there’s the 2022 Cape Epic winner, Lukas Baum who could be a good outsider. For UCI World titles, the cream comes to the top, but you also see some spectacular performances from people who you might not ordinarily think about. In the women’s, if Pauline [Ferrand-Prévot] comes across from the XCO she’s incredibly hard to beat.