Maghalie Rochette’s plans to race cyclocross are back on track after a lengthy derailment that began six weeks ago. The two-time elite women’s Pan-American cyclocross champion returns to the start line Friday in an attempt to regain her title at the recently-revived Pan-American Cyclo-cross Championships in Falmouth, Massachusetts.
The start for a 12th cyclocross season hit more than just a bump on the course for the accomplished Canadian. A bout with COVID-19 in the summer caused Rochette to abandon plans to compete in mountain bike competitions. Then continued low energy levels led her to believe she was “just unfit”, but extreme fatigue raised a flag for extended rest after one cyclocross race in mid-September.
“I’ll be happy if I feel like I can push and fight for the whole race. Result wise, it’s hard to say,” Rochette told Cyclingnews about making her comeback a day ahead of the Pan Ams. “I feel like I’ve done so little training and that my fitness is far from ready, but at the same time I could surprise myself.
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"I’m excited to go out there and really use all I’ve got. Even if I don’t have as many matches to burn as I normally do, I think that will push me to be really on top of things tactically and technically, and if I can do that, I think I can have a great race!”
Earlier in the week she confirmed on Instagram that, “I know my bike is ready. My mind is ready. Whoop says my health is ready. Let’s see where my body is at. Excited to be heading to Really Rad CX this weekend after more than a month away from racing.”
Really Rad Festival of Cyclocross, the final weekend of races for the four-event USCX, added a third day of racing to its schedule to accommodate the Pan-Ams. Only a month ago, the Continental Championships to crown the top ‘cross racers from 44 countries in Central, North and South America were cancelled by local organisers in Costa Rica when they lost access to the event venue and could not find a replacement.
After missing the 2021 Pan Ams due to a schedule conflict with her European racing campaign, Rochette is back on track to contest for the elite title she won in 2018 and 2019. She said she has only been training for the last two weeks, and even then not at the usual level.
“We’ve really focused on technique, short intensity, and recovery. I haven’t ridden more than two hours rides yet. I’m doing short sessions to make sure that I don’t completely drain my energy. By doing short intensities, I can still stimulate my muscles and cardio, but without digging too deep in the overall energy levels,” she admitted.
She has spent time on her mountain bike, which accounted for 90 minutes across several sessions, and also some short runs, one hour of yoga, and some treatments on her back. The off-bike training has been “focusing on mobility and strength, to make sure I build back properly and with no injuries.”
Was a summer bout with COVID-19 to blame? She said it was part of the reason, but signs of fatigue had set in prior to that.
Rochette completed a 960km ride in Iceland at the Westfjords Way Challenge this summer, describing the adventure as “I’ve always travelled to race my bike, I discovered the beauty of travelling by bike”. When she returned home to Quebec, she fell sick with COVID. She also injured her back, which she suspected happened from “sneezing too hard”.
She pulled out of mountain bike racing and focused on her cyclocross season. Rochette lined up for her in the opening round of the US Cyclocross Series (USCX) in Roanoke, Virginia for the C1 Virginia’s Blue Ridge Go Cross and finished fifth. But she was not able to finish the second day of racing, feeling fatigued from Saturday’s contest.
“I think that I was already tired, I had already been burning the candles by both ends for many, many months while ignoring the signs that my body had been sending, and then when I got Covid, that was the one too many thing, and I was never able to fight it,” she explained to Cyclingnews.
“What happened is I ended up having super low white blood cell counts, and super low hematocrit. As if my body tried so hard to fight an infection that it drained the white blood cells, and then drew from the muscles to keep trying to fight. Which would explain why I felt so exhausted and with muscle weakness.”
She targeted a slow build in fitness after Go Cross with the second USCX round at Rochester Cyclocross, but did not finish the C1 race after two laps and missed Sunday’s C2 altogether. She also stayed home for the two World Cup races in the US and has remained on the sidelines since.
The three-time elite Canadian cyclocross gold medalist jumps back into competition with a stacked field, which is led by US riders Raylyn Nuss, the defending champion, and Austin Killips, who is third overall in the USCX. Among the Canadian contingency of four riders is Sidney McGill, who is ninth in the USCX standings.
After a return to action with the red and white maple leaf kit, Rochette plans to race the weekend at Really Rad Festival of Cyclocross, debuting a custom Rapha kit to represent Specialized-Feedback Sports. If all goes well with her health, she wants to race the next weekend in the US at a UCI weekend of races at the Verge Northampton International Cyclocross, and from there she is tempted to head to Europe rather than Canadian Cyclocross Nationals on November 26 in British Columbia.
“Canadian Nationals would be cool and they are still on my mind, but at the same time, the race is so far (in Victoria, BC) and in the complete opposite direction as Europe…so I don’t know. I’d be tempted to go to Europe,” she said.
“We won’t have many races in North America after next weekend, but in Europe there are multiple races every weekend. So right now we’re thinking about heading to Europe and keep building my form over there by racing smaller races - French Cups, Swiss Cups, smaller Belgian races, etc. - until I feel ready to get back into the World Cup field.
“But we’ll see! My main goal is long term…I’d like to come back better than I’ve ever was, use that forced break as an opportunity to build back better. So I don’t want to rush things and if I feel like my body is not quite ready, then I’ll just listen to it and take things more slowly.”
