The French duo won the American event on Sunday, October 16, at the world championships organized in Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines.
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For the uninitiated, the American test is not the most readable of track cycling. Unless one of the duets responsible for swallowing the 200 laps (50 kilometers) at full speed by taking turns dominates his opponents largely, as French Donovan Grondin and Benjamin Thomas, Sacred on Sunday October 16 Champions in Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines. The two runners, who work as a professional on the road the rest of the year, bring a third gold medal to the tricolor delegation after the titles of Mathilde Gros and Marie-Divine Kouamé, respectively in speed and on the 500 meters. With this third coronation and this seventh medal, France is already guaranteed to obtain its best result in the Worlds since 2017.
During the American, there are two ways to score points: being one of the first four teams to cross the finish line during the sprints organized every ten laps or succeed in escaping from the peloton and Take a tour of it. Pushed by the clamor of the French public, Grondin and Thomas were regularly at the rendezvous of intermediate sprints (12 times out of 20) and took a decisive lead on their opponents by taking a tour of the peloton less than 5 kilometers from the arrival. With a comfortable advance, the two French people were able to savor their last laps, and even allow themselves to claim a surplus of fervor from an audience already in boiling.
“Donovan made the difference”
“We attacked at the right time, believes Benjamin Thomas. It was Donovan who made the difference and it was he who made me believe it. Me, at the start of the race, I had a legs a legs Little heavy. “The runner of the Cofidis team, who distinguished himself this summer on the roads of the Tour de France 2022 taking up the peloton up to 400 meters from the arrival of the 15th stage in Carcassone, had Good reasons to be a little blunt. On Saturday, he spent a lot of energy to win a silver medal during omnium, an event combining six specialties of track cycling.
Donovan Grondin, who evolves, in the Arkéa-Samsic team, was more sharp . “I managed to make the hole [on the rest of the peloton], he says. It took a long time to take a turn, but, as soon as it was done, we had a margin and we assured . “
With this title of world champions, Thomas and Grondin look at the future with envy, and especially the year 2024, where the events on the track of the Paris Olympics will take place in this same Vélodrome de Saint-Quentin- En-Yvelines. In 2021 in Tokyo, for the return of the American to the Olympic Games program, the French duo had already won a bronze medal. In two years in France, they will aim without complex victory. “We dream of gold, admits Benjamin Thomas. We want to be there. It will drive faster at the games and we were here in a particular end of season context with many tired runners. So it’s a nice reference, But we are not going to ignite. For the games, nothing is done, we will try to stay competitive and continue to work. “