Clara Émond didn’t understand why cyclists cried after a victory. Now she knows.
Three years after her late conversion to road cycling, the former Alpine skier and law graduate from Saint-Ferréol-les-Neiges caused a big surprise by winning the fourth stage of the Giro d’Italia on Wednesday in Urbino.
The representative of the American team EF-Oatly-Cannondale won after a solo raid of around fifty kilometers through the Apennine mountains.
After a 134 km race in the sweltering heat of central Italy, the 27-year-old Quebecer was able to savour the success that lay before her during the final steep 500 m climb on the cobblestones of the old town.
All smiles as she crossed the line, she brought her left hand to her mouth, a sign of the disbelief she felt after this very first professional victory in what is, sportingly speaking, the most prestigious stage race on the women’s calendar.
“I didn’t expect it at all!” admitted Émond, in the middle of a massage session on his return to the hotel an hour later.
“The start of the Giro was still difficult with the team. We had big ambitions for the general classification. So we changed strategy a bit today. We wanted to be super aggressive and try to go forward. When I left, I never thought it would go all the way!”
The winner, who also won the blue jersey for best climber, won with a lead of 17 seconds over the Italian Soraya Paladin (Canyon/Sram) and 20 seconds over the Danish Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig (FDJ-Suez). They were part of a group of six pursuers who never managed to close the lead that the Canadian leader had built up.
PHOTO TAKEN FROM THE INSTAGRAM ACCOUNT @EFPROCYCLING
Clara Émond won the blue jersey for best climber.
After crossing the wire, Émond sat on the cobblestones, still in shock. The emotions came out when the team doctor took her in her arms.
“Before, I didn’t understand why people were crying at the finish. Now I really do. It’s such a short moment, but it feels like it suddenly rewards all the hours and work you put into it. It’s very special.”
Courage “
After starting in Imola and passing through the famous motor racing circuit, Émond managed to break away from the pack after a final counter-attack with around a hundred kilometres to go. She joined a leading quartet alone, who then had a cushion of around forty seconds.
Aware that she was the only climber in the group, she dropped her partners on the first difficulty of the day, a 5.6 km climb in the principality of San Marino, about fifty kilometers from the finish. The peloton was just over five minutes behind.
“I said to myself: in the best case scenario, I will already be ahead when the other girls catch up with me,” explained the woman whose “courage” was highlighted by sports director Daniel Foder.
“It shows that if you commit, keep believing and aren’t afraid to take risks, you can accomplish great things,” he praised her in a statement.
After a second 6.3 km climb, the daring climber feared a comeback from the pursuers on the long false flat of 12.9 km towards Urbino, where a final wall with a 14% gradient awaited her. With a cushion of around fifty seconds, she suspected that her victory was now a formality, or almost.
“By then, it was very hot and I was starting to get tired. I almost wanted to ask my sports director who was in the car behind me about the time difference. I wanted to take it easy until the finish! But I still pushed to the line. I turned around and saw that there was no one there. The last 200 meters were just fun! I savored the moment.”
Atypical journey
With his victory, Émond jumped from 37e at 27e echelon in the general classification, 5 min 14 s behind the Italian champion Elisa Longo Borghini (Lidl-Trek), holder of the pink jersey since the inaugural time trial, Sunday. The Sherbrooke Magdeleine Vallières Mill, the other Quebecer at EF, occupies the 124e rank.
PHOTO TAKEN FROM THE INSTAGRAM ACCOUNT @EFPROCYCLING
Clara Émond welcomes Magdeleine Vallières Mill during the podium ceremony.
A former national-level alpine skier with the Mont-Sainte-Anne club, Clara Émond took a different direction due to injuries and the start of her law studies at Université Laval, where she practiced cross-country. She then devoted herself to triathlon, a discipline in which she had some success.
The cancellation of competitions during the pandemic prompted her to turn to road cycling in 2021. To everyone’s surprise, including her own, she won the uphill stage of the Grand Prix de Charlevoix, finishing third overall.
A season with the Canadian team Emotional.fr-Tornatech-GSC Blagnac VS31 allowed her to get noticed in Europe by the French team Arkéa. Last year, she competed in the Tour de France, where she was the best Canadian with a 23e place in the general.
When he arrived at EF, Émond absolutely wanted to take part in the 35e Giro, a historic event on the women’s circuit renowned for its mountainous courses.
“When we talk about cycling, everyone thinks of the Tour de France, but those who know about it know that the Giro is one of the most difficult tours. I really wanted to do it. Until today, my record stopped with my victory at the Boucherville criterium! Getting my first professional victory at the Giro is incredible.”
PHOTO TAKEN FROM THE X @EFPROCYCLING ACCOUNT
“Until today, my record stopped with my victory at the Boucherville criterium! Getting my first professional victory at the Giro is incredible.”
This is all the more so since Émond returned to competition less than a month ago after breaking her elbow in a fall during the second stage of the Tour of Spain, won by her teammate and compatriot Alison Jackson, on April 29.
“People have always told me that in cycling there are a lot of downs and a few ups, and you have to enjoy them. I think that’s true. [La victoire] “Don’t erase all the bad races you can have, but a little bit. It’s going to give me a lot of confidence for the future.”
Clara Émond hopes to be able to take a breather on Thursday during a fifth stage normally reserved for the sprinters, since she will be called upon to keep her blue jersey on the last three stages, where the passes will follow one after the other, including a finish at the formidable Blockhaus on Saturday.
The Women’s Giro for Dummies
The revival of the Tour de France Femmes in 2022 has garnered much of the media attention, but the Giro d’Italia is generally considered the most prestigious stage race on the international women’s cycling circuit.
Under different names (Giro d’Italia Femminile, Giro Rosa, Giro Donne and, since this year, Giro d’Italia Women), the Giro has been presented continuously since 1988, usually at the same time as the Tour de France, of which it is seen in some way as the women’s counterpart with its big mountain stages.
Organized this year by RCS Sport, owner of the men’s Giro, the race is made up of eight stages for a total distance of 876.7 km. The leader in the general classification wears the traditional pink jersey. The Giro is one of the 27 events of the women’s WorldTour. Twenty-two teams of seven cyclists took part. The ends of the stages are shown live on TV on Eurosport in Europe and on the FloBikes website in Canada.
Italian champion Fabiana Luperini holds the record with five victories, including four consecutive ones between 1995 and 1998. Dutch Olympic gold medallists and multiple world champions Anna van der Breggen and Annemiek van Vleuten follow with four successes each.
Quebecer Karol-Ann Canuel, a double Olympic athlete, finished 11the in his first participation in 2011, ranking 5the of the second stage. In 2017, the Amossoise won the inaugural team time trial with her Boels-Dolman team.
At the Games to cheer on your lover ?
PHOTO JOSIE DESMARAIS, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
Charles Paquet
Clara Émond’s Italian feat came too late to be considered in the selection process for the Paris Olympics. The cyclist would nevertheless like to attend the triathlon in the French capital to cheer on her boyfriend, Charles Paquet, who will try to continue his exceptional form since the beginning of the year. “I still hope, but for the moment, I’m supposed to do a one-day race in France that day,” she said. Currently on a high-altitude training camp in the Pyrenees, Paquet went to the pool while his girlfriend was off alone in Italy… “Triathletes, eh, are always training!” Paquet nevertheless asked his coach between his lengths. The athlete from Port-Cartier got out of the water to watch the finish, he explained to his girlfriend, to whom he was able to speak afterwards. “He was completely crazy!”