Already the time for redemption… After the successful 2021 Worlds in Roubaix (6 medals) and a great raid this summer at the European Championships in Berlin (15 medals), the French team hoped to illuminate the Vélodrome de Saint- Quentin-en-Yvelines for the 2022 Worlds, a kind of dress rehearsal two years from the 2024 Olympics.
This Thursday, we will watch for the women’s team pursuit (in the quarter-finals against Great Britain) or the men’s keirin to perhaps offer a first podium to the tricolor delegation after a nightmarish start to the competition.
On Wednesday, in fact, the Blues multiplied the early exits from the track. Starting with the team sprinters, eliminated on their first laps when they had won bronze at the Tokyo Olympics last year.
“We hoped for better on this first round (sic), slips the national sprint coach Grégory Baugé. There was a false start (Editor’s note: Germans). Our starter did not hear the first firecracker and continued his effort for almost half a turn. It changes the game because we had to start quickly behind. We left at a disadvantage, it was almost a lost race. »
The girls did no better. Neither did the boys in the chase. The blue-white-red quartet rode at the same time as Italy, one of the best nations in the discipline. Well launched by Quentin Lafargue (1′01′’428 per kilometer), Valentin Tabellion and especially Corentin Ermenault struggled to keep up… Sixth time of the eight teams entered (3’50’681), almost 2 seconds behind Australia, fourth (3′48′’773), France does not even reach the small final for bronze.
“They are disappointed, of course. We are at home, in front of our public, our family, summarizes Baugé. But it’s a competition, there are several days of racing and there are still plenty of great things to do behind it. tomorrow (Editor’s note: Thursday) will be another day and we must first recover to leave the knife between the teeth. »
