Clément Venturini (France) is the new junior world cyclo-cross champion. The 17-year-old French champion accelerated before the halfway point of the race and finished 15 seconds ahead of his compatriots, the twin brothers Loic and Fabien Doubey. Belgian favorite Laurens Sweeck (Belgium) didn't live up to expectations and was fifth on the athletics track finish, behind Jakub Skala (Czech Republic).
“It's a dream coming through and I still can't believe it,” Venturini said.
A tricky off-camber section quickly ruined the hopes of several riders at the start of the race. Four riders distanced themselves from the pack, including Venturini, Vojtech Nipl (Czech Republic), Laurens Sweeck and Lars Forster (Switzerland). While several other riders got back to the front, the decisive moment occurred at the end of the second lap. Diether Sweeck (Belgium) accelerated with Venturini taking his wheel. Sweeck flatted and so was dropped back and suddenly Venturini found himself alone at the front with a 20-second gap on the first chase group.
“Before the race we had a team meeting and we decided to race as a real team. When Clément was up front we marked every attack in the chase group,” Loic Doubey said.
While Venturini was able to tackle the slippery off-camber section without any problem, the opposition kept losing time on the French rider. Halfway through the race Venturini didn't pay enough attention on a relatively easy left-hand corner and his front tyre slipped away. That allowed Yorne Van Tichelt (Belgium) and Doubey to close to about 10 seconds but the French presence in the chase group allowed Venturini to regain time on the chasers, where both Doubey brothers were in the company of Laurens Sweeck and Van Tichelt.
During the penultimate lap Van Tichelt didn't make it over the off-camber climb without incident and he dropped out off the front. Soon after that Sweeck dropped back too and suddenly there were three French riders leading the race.
While enjoying a comfortable gap of 25 seconds on the first chasers Venturini only had to stay on his bike in order to take the title but when tackling the off-camber section for the seventh time things went wrong. Venturini didn't have enough speed and slid away to the right. His bike got stuck and the French rider lost about 10 seconds. Fortunately he still had more than enough time to go on and took the biggest victory of his career.
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“Every lap I struggled on that section. I didn't have the right profile tires to ride it as it might have been better to take it on by foot; in the end I decided to ride it anyway. When I crashed and got stuck I feared that I would lose everything but in the end I was safe,” Venturini said.
Deciding not to sprint, the Doubey brothers both crossed the line with their hands in the air before eventually falling into the arms of the new world champion. “When hitting the last descent before the finish line my brother told me that I could be second. It wasn't about who would take second or third, it was about the team,” Loic Doubey said.
On the podium all three French riders were beaming with joy while being awarded their medals and listening to 'La Marseillaise', the French national anthem.
