Célia Gery proved Sunday that she’s a rider to observe regardless of the race floor. She gained her first elite nationwide title on the French Cyclo-cross Nationals in Troyes with an upset of race favorite Amandine Fouquenet (Pauwels Sauzen-Altez Industriebouw).
At 19 years of age final yr, Gery took on the Ladies’s WorldTour with FDJ-SUEZ after which captured the highlight with the ladies’s U23 world title in Kigali within the highway race.
Driving cyclo-cross for AS Bike Racing-France Literie, Gery turned 20 simply days in the past and celebrated with a strong victory in opposition to Fouquenet. As the highest U23 rider within the occasion, she earned each tri-colour jerseys as nationwide champion.
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“I can’t fairly consider it. I had quite a lot of doubts earlier than the race. It’s actually nice to win right here,” Géry stated on the end line to France 3, additionally reported by L’Equipe.
“Amandine [Fouquenet] and I broke away proper from the beginning of the race. I felt that she was very robust within the bodily sections. That’s what made me doubt myself a little bit for some time. However I noticed that within the technical sections, I may widen the hole a bit to win right this moment.”
Fouquenet, 24, got here into nationals with the momentum of eight elite podiums this season, together with back-to-back Superprestige wins at Heusden-Zolder and Gullegem which had her in second general in that sequence. She was ranked third general within the World Cup as nicely, because of current high fours at World Cup Zonhoven, Dendermonde and Gavere. She got here into Nationals because the defending elite ladies’s champion.
On the second lap of Sunday’s contest, Fouquenet was within the lead, however faltered on twisty sections and was handed by Gery. The 20-year-old then surged away on lap three to win by 33 seconds.
Her battle for the rainbow jersey in September was a lot nearer, as she attacked with a small group on a cobbled climb within the last kilometres and used a last kick within the dash for a two-second win over Viktória Chladaňová (Slovakia). That dash made historical past as the primary standalone U23 ladies’s highway race at Highway Worlds.
Two seasons in the past as an 18-year-old, Gery gained the French junior ladies’s cyclo-cross title and three weeks later topped that with a junior title on the World Championships in Tabor. This season racing among the many elites she had three C2 victories within the fall and was sixth at World Cup Gavere.
Gery will likely be a favorite within the French colors at Cyclo-cross World Championships in Hulst, February 1, anticipated to enhance from fourth place final yr within the ladies’s U23 race.
