Barely arrived from France, where she lives for cycling, Laury Milette had few expectations for the Triptyque Cycles Régis presented on Laurier Avenue, Monday evening, in Outremont.
Her participation in this criterium was above all a way to chase away jet lag and get active before the Women’s Chrono and the Tour de Gatineau, her last two races of an eventful year marked by a severe concussion.
While she was there, she might as well win, which Milette did to her own surprise, she who is not very fond of criteriums, a specialty that is not very common in Europe and which carries its share of dangers.
“It’s a small victory, but it still feels good,” the 21-year-old cyclist smiled in an online interview Wednesday morning.
Playing it safe, she certainly didn’t want to relive the nightmare she’s just emerging from after a violent fall at the end of the third stage of the Tour de Burgos, a Spanish WorldTour event, on May 18. With the peloton engaged in a mass sprint at nearly 60 km/h, the Quebecer couldn’t avoid a wave caused by the team she was following. She was mowed down and fell on her head, dragging about twenty riders to the ground, which made her fate worse.
Her helmet smashed on the asphalt, and she remained lying on her side for about a minute, the back of her Komugi-Grand Est jersey in tatters.
“It wasn’t a pretty sight,” Milette said in a virtual interview Wednesday morning. “I didn’t lose consciousness as such, but I didn’t feel like moving or have the strength to get up.”
Looking back, she regrets not making a hand gesture, if only to reassure her parents who were watching the race on the internet. She especially blames herself for how she handled the following days, returning to competition four laps later at the Tour de Bretagne, unaware of the dangers of an undiagnosed concussion.
“I was soon seen on the side of the road by the doctor who was looking at each girl who had fallen. He asks your name, makes sure you are able to follow his finger with your eyes and he moves on to the next one. According to UCI regulations, if there is a suspicion of concussion, you have to take another test that lasts at least 10 minutes. This was not done in my case.”
Denial
After her premature retirement in Brittany, where she did not feel like herself, Laury Milette realized that something was wrong when she no longer knew where to put her shoes after the race.
“I was stuck. Let’s see, what am I doing? It was like I couldn’t think anymore. Every time I did the dishes, for example, I had to go to sleep right after. The smallest task took all my energy. So I spent my days sleeping.”
Again, she didn’t want to believe it. The Canadian Championships in St. George, where she was aiming for gold on the road after three consecutive silver medals, were looming the following month. Another mistake.
“It is often said that the first symptom of a concussion is denial. You tell yourself that it’s okay, you’re still able to ride, but ultimately, you’re always in a kind of cloud, you don’t really realize it. Emotionally, it’s also extremely difficult to manage because you’re depressed. It’s chemical, in your head, you no longer produce dopamine. It’s really uncontrollable.”
At the request of her team, which risked exclusion due to the lack of the minimum number of starters, she even agreed to take part in the Grésivaudan Alps classic at the beginning of June. She only made the fictitious start, but she regrets having exposed herself in this way in the state her brain was in.
It wasn’t until she returned to her hometown of Gatineau that she was able to truly begin the healing process with specialists in the area, starting with a complete cessation of physical activity. “In Europe, concussion services are much less developed than here.”
Unable to participate, she attended the national championships, where her boyfriend Carson Miles, with whom she lives in Alsace, stood on the podium twice.
“At the end, I broke down,” she said emotionally. “I was really happy for Carson, but we both wanted to perform. It was really hard.”
In the right direction
Having been out of action for the entire month of June, the 2022 Canada Games gold medallist gradually resumed training upon her return to France, first indoors and then on the road, with the inevitable setbacks associated with concussions.
“I didn’t have a headache, but it definitely felt like pressure. Kind of like I had a spider in my back and when you push a little bit [l’effort]it was pulling.”
This sentence from his newsletter, published on August 21 and entitled “Rebound,” sums up this period well: “I had bad days where I had to cut short [ma sortie] and going home, and others where I was laughing alone on my bike on a quiet road because I was so happy to finally feel normal.”
More meticulous than ever in her “lifestyle”, she had a month and a half to get back into “acceptable” shape for the Tour de l’Avenir, which she raced with the national team (42e At the beginning of the month, the self-described “puncher” finished 21e of a stage in the Tour de l’Ardèche, an undeniable sign that it is finally going in the right direction.
“If I had been in better shape, I would have liked to do even better, but considering everything that happened to me, it’s already a victory.”
A “unique opportunity” in Gatineau
Fifth last year, Laury Milette will face tougher competition at the Tour de Gatineau, a 117.7 km road race. Two WorldTour teams (Liv AlLula Jayco and Ceratizit-WNT) will be at the start of this only event sanctioned by the International Cycling Union in North America. A total of 108 riders are registered, 20 more than last year, on a hillier course in the Hull sector.
“We’re still aiming for victory, but a top 10 is perhaps more realistic,” said Milette, who will line up for her French continental team Team Komugi-Grand Est, like her compatriot Joséphine Péloquin.
Laury Milette is infinitely grateful to Karol-Ann Canuel, a former cyclist who revived the defunct Grand Prix cycliste de Gatineau last year to give local athletes a chance to be exposed at the international level. She is the general manager while Alex Cataford, another former pro, is the chief operating officer.
“When we’re not in Europe, it’s kind of our only way to get seen in North America,” Milette noted. “It’s a unique opportunity, so it has to stay!”
Schedule of activities at the Tour de Gatineau
Friday 11 a.m.: Time trial
Saturday 3 p.m.: Road race
Sunday: Criterion
What is a criterion?
Takes place on a road circuit, completely closed to traffic, measuring between 1 and 3 km per lap. Riders must complete the number of laps to cover the distance/duration planned in the program.