Simone Boilard (Uno-X Mobility) had a frustrating outing at her first one-day World Tour race of the season, Circuit Het Nieuwsblad, on Saturday in Belgium. The cyclist took the 28e rank while she finished in a group of around forty runners who were 2 minutes 8 seconds behind the leading quartet.
The former triple world champion, the Dutch Marianne Vos (Visma-Lease a Bike), beat the Belgian and current holder of the rainbow jersey, Lotte Kopecky (SD Worx-Protime) in the sprint. As for the other Quebecers, Laury Milette (Komugi – Grand Est) ranked 104e (+8 min 53 s) while her teammate Joséphine Péloquin did not complete the event.
Boilard had high hopes on Saturday, except that series of falls complicated his race.
“I’m disappointed because I felt really good. I had a good winter of training and I think I could have had a good result. It’s always a little disappointing when you can’t express yourself the way you want. »
The Quebecer fell in the first cobbled sector where she was not perfectly positioned. “A girl fell, I rolled over and flew back pretty hard.”
The 23-year-old athlete escaped with only a few scratches and got back in the saddle. As she was catching up with the peloton, another fall occurred and she was caught behind. The same scenario happened again later.
“Afterwards, I missed the good shot that took off because I was caught behind all those falls and I was never really able to participate in the race. »
Boilard also did not participate in her group’s sprint, as she was pushed by a competitor in the final meters of the event.
“I really try to put things into perspective by telling myself that I have nothing broken. It’s not necessarily my fault, but it’s annoying…”, the athlete said, adding that she was not surprised to see this chaos on this course punctuated by cobbled sectors, but also by climbs where “More than 150 girls have to enter a road that is as wide as the entrance to a shed. »
Her result disappoints her, but we can guess from her words that she felt in her place in the peloton.
“It’s a bit crazy where they put us, but it’s part of cycling in Belgium and that’s why the classics are so prestigious and why everyone says there’s nothing else like that. »
With a winter of training “without injury or illness for the first time in my (her) life”, Simone Boilard is now part of a World Tour team after two years in a French continental team, which in turn makes so she now knows her racing schedule well in advance to better plan her training. A luxury that she enjoys for the first time since she reached the professional ranks.
“It makes all the difference physically and mentally,” concludes the woman whose first objective of the season will be the block of classics from Flandriennes to Flèche wallonne.
Classic Faun-Ardèche
Meanwhile in France, more precisely at the Classic Faun-Ardèche (1. Pro), Robin Plamondon (CIC U Nantes Atlantique) obtained the best Quebec result, a 55e place, finishing almost 8 minutes behind the winner, the Spaniard Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates).
Hugo Houle (Israel – Premier Tech) reached the finish in 87e place in the last peloton which was a little more than 12 minutes behind, while Matisse Julien (CIC U Nantes Atlantique) stopped before the end of the event.