French Cyclocross Championships

Pontchâteau, January 10, 1999

Preview

The program for Sunday is:

10.00 - Juniors (born between 1981 and 1982)  40 minutes
11.30 - Cadets (born between 1983 and 1984) 20 minutes
13.30 - Elite - 60 minutes with Espoirs (born between 1977 and 1980)

Preview - Mengin is favourite for his third win

Christophe Mengin, from Lorraine (in the north east) will be trying to become the French cyclocross champion for the third consecutive year, a feat not achieved since 1963. Three elite titles in three years. No-one has succeeded in doing this since the legendary Andre Dufraisse. Not even Yvon Madiot one of the managers of Mengin's team, La Française des Jeux could do that. And he was one of the big cross stars in France.

Having previously won in the north at Harnes in 1996, and in the east in Nonmay (1997), Mengin now travels to the west of France to Pontchâteau to attempt to enter the realms of cycling legends in France. He will face stiff opposition from Domenique Arnould, a local rider Patrice Halgand, and the youthful Miguel Martinez. This is not to ignore the other top rider in the Madiot brothers La Française des Jeux, Emmanuel Magnien. the other asset of the Madiot brothers.

Mengin is a rider who knows how to prepare for the top races. He has followed the same preparation that he used to success in the last two years. He started the season carefully because he was getting over an ankle injury but was reaching top form by the time the first major French event was held.

He has had won win and two seconds this winter to date - a similar outcome to the last seasons. He is approaching top form. In Sarrebourg, last Sunday, the only real challenger was his principal adversary, Domenique Arnould.

Marc Madiot, convinced of the benefits of cyclo-cross for road racing (6 La Française des Jeux riders are racing this winter), has also entered Emmanuel Magnien, an exceptionally gifted crosser, to reinforce his team's numbers on the circuit at Pontchâteau. The course of Coët-Roz, which was used for the 1978 French Championships, favours the strong riders in the peloton.

Magnien said: "The circuit requires much power and offers little time of recovery. Even on the descents, one is obliged to pedal!" Magnien, has ridden well her before and in 1989 he finished second in the World Junior Championships behind Dutchman Richard Groenendaal.

Vis-a-vis the duet Mengin-Magnien, Arnould is looking iolated. But he is the last French rider to have won the world title (1993) and he has great assets. He is also concentrating on MTB racing from now on. He has won three open cross titles between 1989 and 1994 and his current form is good - he has seven victories - and has shown consistancy all winter. He is riding very confidently.

Miguel Martinez and Patrice Halgand, who are leading the French cross challenge, and Christophe Morel, appear to be in the position to play spoilsports. Martinez, twice French champion of the Under-23's, has made a successful transition to the elite division but has not won since autumn. As for Halgand (Festina), who has been one of the lowly ranked cross riders, has set his sights on performing well at these championships to lift himself up the rankings. He lives within twenty kilometers of Coët-Roz and knows it well.

Past Open Champions:

1993 (Montreuil): Dominique Arnould
1994 (Sablé-sur-Sarthe): Dominique Arnould
1995 (Cublize): Jérôme Chiotti
1996 (Lanarvily): Emmanuel Magnien
1997 (Harnes): Christophe Mengin

1998 (Nommay):

Elite:

 1. Christophe Mengin
 2. Dominique Arnould
 3. Emmanuel Magnien

Under-23:

 1. Miguel Martinez

Juniors:

 1. Romain Denhez

Cadets:

 1. Grégory Bernard

Lap by Lap from Daniel Schamps

Lap 1:

At the end of the initial 300 metre sprint to reach the muddy (which was not so muddy because the weather was very fine and the circuit very fast) section of the circuit Christophe Herisset lead the bunch and almost immediatly Christophe Morel in his resplendant pink jersey of the SO (Sport Olympique) Charvieu-Chavagneux club attacks. Last year at the same moment he was almost dead in an hospital, recovering from a car crash he was in while he was coming back from the World Cup event of Pont-Château (!).

It was too far from the finish and nobody was ready to chase. Arnould (now back in the elites without contract and competing for the Committee of Lorraine), Magnien, Mengin (both Française des Jeux), Sébastien Loigerot (team-mate of Morel in the SO Charvieu-Chavagneux team), Herisset (Committee of Picardie), Franck Laurance were at the forefront. Patrice Halgand (Festina) tried to regain ground a little further back after a bad start and Miguel Martinez (CSM Persan-ESP) suffering with a right knee injury after a crash in a cyclo-cross event a few days earlier already looked beaten. He stopped during the third lap already 1 minute back.

At the end of lap 1:

Leading - Christophe Morel.
Second - Pascal Perin (Lorraine Committee) at 9 seconds.
Third group - Magnien, Mengin, Laurance, Herisset, Loigerot, Arnould (11 riders) at 12 seconds.
Then - Halgand at 20 seconds, Martinez at 30 seconds and on

Lap 2:

Perin, who counter-attacked at the end of the first lap was quickly hauled back as Mengin and Magnien tried to reduce the gap with Morel. Dominique Arnould was quickly with them. Loigerot joined the 3 chasers.

At the end of lap 2:

Leading - Christophe Morel.
Second - Mengin, Magnien, Arnould and Loigerot at 10 seconds.
6th place - Halgand and several others including Laurance, Cyril Bonnand at 20 seconds
Then - Martinez at 45 seconds

Lap 3:

The gaps remained the same except at the end of the lap when Morel seemed to wait for the four first chasers.

At the end of lap 3:

Leading - Morel.
Second - Mengin, Magnien, Arnould and Loigerot at 2 seconds.
6th place - Halgand's group at 12 seconds

Lap 4:

Morel was caught by Arnould, Loigerot, Mengin and Magnien. Two SO Charvieu-Chavagnieux and two Française des Jeux at the head of the race now. Arnould, was now isolated and would have problems winning. Morel often at the back of the group trying to recover from his early "cavalier-seul" (lone attack). In the chasing group Cyril Bonnand (CSM Persan-Beaumont) looked at ease being the only one to jump the barriers on his bike but it was Laurance who counter-attacked on his own.

At the end of lap 4:

Leading - Loigerot leading Mengin, Magnien, Arnould and Morel.
6th place - Laurance and Halgand’s group at 9 seconds.
Then - Herisset and Perin at 22 seconds.

Lap 5:

Dominique Arnould decided to force the pace. Mengin was the first to catch him then Loigerot. A bit further back was Magnien and then at 5 seconds came Morel, who was struggling to keep in contact. But Arnould quickly saw Mengin was not ready to cooperate and the 5 men were soon together and Laurance (Normandy Committee and former pro with La Mutuelle de Seine-et-Marne) seized the opportunity to catch them just before the line.

At the end of lap 5:

Leading - Loigerot, Mengin, Magnien, Arnould, Laurance and Morel.
7th - Bonnand at 7 seconds.
8th - Halgand’s group at 17 seconds

Lap 6:

Bonnand joined the leaders after a strong chase. The best men ahead seemed to be Arnould, Mengin, and Magnien. Mengin was beaten by Arnould in the sprint in the Sarrebourg cyclo-cross one week ago. No-one gave any chances to the 4 others against this prominent trio. Bonnand and Laurance were both exhausted after their individual solo efforts to reach the leading group. Toghether with the other two men from the Dauphiné-Savoie Committee, Morel and Loigerot, they all seemed to content themselves with a good final placing. Halgand's group crossed the line 14 seconds after the leaders, gaining 3 seconds during Lap 6. The were now looking at each other wondering who was going to do the big push.

Lap 7:

Dominique Arnould tried his luck with a strong attack. Magnien and Morel were unable to join him and fought together 20 metres behind. As for Laurance, Loigerot, Bonnand and particularly Mengin it was very hard. Magnien tactically waited for Mengin not knowing how exhausted Mengin was. Morel carried on by himself and mounted a challenge to catch Arnould. He immediatly attacked when he regained contact with the former World champion in cyclo-cross. It was so impressive that Arnould was unable to follow the pace.

At the end of lap 7:

Leading - Morel
2nd - Arnould at 13 seconds.
3rd - Magnien, Loigerot, Laurance and Bonnand at 25 seconds.
7th - Mengin at 27 seconds.
8th - Halgand’s group at 55 seconds and gone.

Lap 8:

Now, with two laps to go Morel was on his way to victory. He looked powerful with Loigerot controlling all the attempts to counter his team-mate. Mengin suffered a thousand deaths to keep in contact.

At the end of lap 8:

Leading - Morel
2nd - Magnien, Loigerot, Bonnand, Mengin and Arnould at 27 seconds.
7th - Laurance at 37 seconds
8th - Halgand’s group at more than 1 minute

Lap 9:

Nothing changed except the gap. Magnien looked very disappointed now. With one lap (2530 m) to go Morel increased his lead. The 4 chasers (Bonnand at 38 seconds was dropped) crossed the line 31 seconds after him.

Lap 10 - Final Lap:

Morel was flying, helped by the cheers of the lapped riders . Arnould tried to pocket the 2nd place with half a lap to go but the four chasers were still together for the sprint for the second place as Morel was already crying in the arms of his trainer. Mengin tried for awhile to put two Française des Jeux riders on the rostrum but he was to exhausted and Loigerot beat him for the third place, Magnien being unbeatable for the silver medal. The SO Charvieu-Chavagneux is now replacing the CSM Persan-Beaumont at the lead of the French cyclo-cross clubs. It must be said that many riders of the CSM PB moved to Charvieu after the retirement of the main sponsor of the club (Bic) at the end of 1997 and that Morel was member of the CSM PB until the end of 1997. Serge Pézard's (CSM PB manager, now dead) work is still fruitful.

Final Elite Classification:

 1. Christophe Morel (Comité de Dauphiné-Savoie, SO Charvieu-Chavagneux)       58.15 *
 2. Emmanuel Magnien (La Française des Jeux)					0.35
 3. Sébastien Loigerot (Comité de Dauphiné-Savoie, SO Charvieu-Chavagneux)	0.36
 4. Christophe Mengin (La Française des Jeux)					0.37
 5. Dominique Arnould (Comité de Lorraine)					0.41
 6. Cyril Bonnand (Comité d’Ile-de-France, CSM Persan-Beaumont-ESP)		0.57
 7. Franck Laurance (Comitéde Normandie)					0.59
 8. Patrice Halgand (Festina)							1.35
 9. Regis Duros
10. Lecoeur (Comité de Normandie)						2.00

Final Under-23 Classification:

 1. Guillaume Benoist
 2. John Gadret
 3. Thomas Lecuyer
 4. Geoffrey Clochez
 5. David Derepas
 6. Frédéric Rousseau
 7. Laurent Plantard
 8. Grégory Noirot
 9. Eric Leblancher
10. Julien Bertaut

Juniors:

1. Jean-Baptiste Béraud
2. Emmanuel Lahonta
3. Sébastien Da Silva

Post Race Report:

Morel has never had any success on the Pontchâteau circuit but on Sunday it gave him the coveted blue-white and red jersey of the Champion of France. On the podium, Morel was joined by Emmanuel Magnien (La Française des Jeux) and his teammate Sébastien Loigerot (SO Charvieu), but everyone was thinking about the events of last year.

It was on the motorway of Mâcon, while travelling to a race - at Pontchâteau - that the future champion of France had had a very serious road accident on January 5, 1998, in the company of his father and a mechanic from his club. He broke a nose and suffered several broken bones elsewhere and he seriously damaged his spleen (it was haemorrhaging). He remained in critical condition unconscious for several days and has undergone several operations since. He received plastic surgery for his facial injuries.

Morel explained yesterday: "It was very hard to resume. I began again riding MTBs and I intensified the road program at the end of the road season to prepare for the cyclo-cross races. This winter, I have known the highs and lows of being in the sport. But I had strong ambitions and, with the drive, I had good feelings and, here, I did not have anything to lose. I was not considered among the favorites"

Free of marking, the 23 year-old from Moidieu-Detourbe, a locality located close to Vienne, rode the ideal race. Leading from the start, he was caught on Lap 3 by a small group of chasers including Arnould, Mengin, Magnien, Loigerot, who were then joined by Bonnand and Laurance. He then reacted to an attack by former world champion Domenique Arnould on the 7th of 10 laps whereas Christophe Mengin, trying to make history and win the title for the 3rd consecutive year, was delayed by a puncture and a fall.

Morel continued: "The others were surely not watching me very closely. When Arnould accelerated, I chased and the others were soon dropped. Then I attacked Arnould and I said myself that it was the moment to give everything".

The last three laps, in front of a huge crowd and under warm sun, proved to be a formality for Morel, who then started to realise what he was achieving. He had previously had title hopes in 1997 at Harnes. Last year, he was lying seriously injured in a hospital bed.

Morel is now at the top of the discipline in France. But, at the international level he is relatively unknown. He has only just regained form as the World Cup is coming to an end. He was 19th in Round 5 of the World Cup at Luxembourg. He now is aiming at a big result in the last World Cup round - the GP de France - at Monmay, next Sunday.

In the Under-23 race, the rider from Bretagne Guillaume Benoist won. Past Under-23 winner, Miguel Martinez who raced in the Elite event was suffering with a knee problem and never was able to get into the race at Pontchâteau.