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The comeback track: The Marion Clignet Journal 2003
French track legend Marion Clignet retired from racing in 2000, intending to become active as an advocate for women's sport. But after two years off the bike, and perhaps inspired by the other female champions she's encountered while working as a presenter for French TV, Clignet is returning to the velodrome in a determined comeback. Follow her progress on Cyclingnews as she works to make her way back to the top.
March 22: first outing on the comeback trail
Arriving in Mexico
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Hello there! I got in to Mexico on Monday night fairly late, with all but one bike bag in tow. Apparently we were fairly lucky on that end: a lot of teams are still looking for bikes, bags, etc. The track is 333m of smooth cement and fully exposed to the wind! The sun is awesome; one of our young sprinters is lobster-like with major sunglass marks - must be the altitude.
The French team is here with 3 male sprinters, one kilo rider, two women sprinters, five men for team pursuit, points race and scratch, and me for points, pursuit, and scratch.
The first day out went well, though the track is situated so that there's a head wind at one end and a tail wind at the other, giving you major cross winds in the turns. A strong gust during one of my flying starts had me thinking I was off to Kansas! It has calmed a bit in the last few days though, or I'm just getting used to it. In any case its good to be back and I must say I've never seen so many women at a World Cup, it's awesome! The Dutchies have three or four, the Italians have three, the English have five, I think, and so on. It's good to see!
Competition starts
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As for me, well, it's a long road back to the top so this World Cup has served me well to find my marks. Despite bike problems in the points race, I managed to lap the field with four other girls but really had trouble maneuvering my bike to get in for the sprints. I ended up fifth which was okay and discovered the problem this morning: partly my headset and partly my position. All is settled now and ready for the scratch this afternoon.
In the pursuit Sarah Ulmer just flew. She was just beautiful to watch on her bike if I may say, apparently hard work has paid off. She was very smooth and added a nice little kick at the end; trounced the field with a 3.37 in the series and a 3.41 in the finals ridden in 10 degree temperatures as opposed to the afternoon's 40-something. Erin Mirabella rode a very steady second with Raza Maizekaite from Lithuania in third and myself in fourth. I tried a few new things, notably the gear. It was my first pursuit since Sydney in 2000 so now it's down to serious business!
There were two pleasant surprises here. The Colombian men's pursuit team warmed up for over an hour on the rollers in the blazing sun while all the other teams were down in the tunnel and they just smoked! And Celine Never from France came through to beat the world keirin champion among others - an awesome step ahead for France's up and coming.
All for now, more soon on today's scratch.
Hugs,
Marion
Photos
Images by Marion Clignet
- Poolside in Aguascalientes, Mexico
- The smile of someone who has just finished their training session and is off to lunch
- In action in the 3,000m individual pursuit, where Marion finished fourth
- Pre-presentation carfuffle
