Road cycling | “The best race of my career,” said Guillaume Bovin

Guillaume Bovin announced with his younger brother Pierre-Etienne that he was “secretly” likely to fight for victory at the Paris-Roubikes on Sunday.

Simon Droin
Tap

His bold prediction came close to being fulfilled. Mud spots and “driving error” on the cobblestone however caused his loss less than 20 kilometers away.

Despite a left wrist injury, Canadian champion Roubikes finished ninth in the velodrome.

“My best result, perhaps, but it’s clearly the best race of my career,” said Bovin, who goes to the hospital in Warwick, Belgium, for an X – ray. “I knew it before the race. I even secretly told my brother: If things go right, I can play for victory today.”

After the cancellation in 2020 due to the epidemic and the postponement this year it exhibited exceptionally well in October, 118^E For twenty years the Paris-Rubaiks had not carried the nickname “Hell of the North” so well.

Due to heavy rain at the start of the day, 30 paved sections of the 257.7 km event were bathed in mud. Even those lucky enough not to fall were covered from head to toe. Only the eyes of cyclists remembered that they were not statues on two wheels.

Hectombe opened in the first sector of Troisville (km 96.3), where Bovin punctured himself. Because there are “people everywhere”, troubleshooting is long overdue. So he “hunted almost 50 kilometers” to get back Peloton (or what was left of it).

“Actually it cost me a lot of energy, but I know the legs have been great ever since.”

He responded well to the first start by Dutchman Matthew van der Poyle in the Orenburg Gap, where he narrowly escaped disaster. When he touched former world champion Luke Rowe he got caught in the Mads Pedersen cycle, almost stopping.

“Honestly, I died with my eyes closed. I did not touch the brakes. I could not believe my eyes because I was not lying there. I’m lucky.”

Leaving the famous moat, Bovin van der Poyle did not live long with Italian and European champion Sonny Colmbrelli and young American Matteo Jrgensen. The trio took nearly ten kilometers to make the junction with the first team as a result of the morning breakup. Meanwhile, the Belgian Watt van Ert, the big favorite, is stuck behind.

With his teammate Tom von Asbrook at the front, Bovin had the luxury of not taking on responsibilities. However, he had to respond to some startups from Colmbrelli and especially van der Poyle. “He’s strong, but I’m also strong. I felt good. Every race has gone well this year. My confidence has grown a little bit.”

Laurent Gulbert, analyst at France 3, did not fail to underline the athlete’s performance from Longueil: “Perhaps the most impressive is Guillum Bovine.”

For a long time, the Italian Gianni Moscan (4^E At the end), the bad boy of Inios, was in the lead alone. However, his lead melted after he fell on the puncture and mud rocks.

However, this is a bad omen for Bovin, who fell short in the Confin-en-Pavale sector, less than 20 km from the end. Gave way to the wheel behind it. The following motorcycle camera also fell to prevent it.

“I gave it up. I don’t think it’s bad luck. It’s a pilot error. The conditions are really tough. I’m proud to have continued to the end. The wrist has been really painful in the last three sectors. I did Carrefour de l Arbre almost with one hand.”

Colbrelli, van der Poyle and the wonderful Belgian Florian Vermeerch, 22, finally caught up with Moscon before getting rid of him. An unprecedented three recruits in the Paris-Roubaix battled for victory in the velodrome. Vermeersh (2^E) Started first, then van der Poyle (3^E), Have no legs to resist Columbrell.

Madeleine Law, like his compatriot Gianmarco Tamberi, an Italian and Olympic high jump champion lying on the grass, cries as Bovin returns to the track with van Ert (7).^E) And wife.

Fifth in the crash, a Bromont resident crossed the ninth line behind his teammate Van Asbrook.

“The result may be a little better, but you will not have the opportunity to fight for victory at the monument every day. Top 10 On a monument, especially with the race I made, I can be proud of it. ”

In his second test at Paris-Roubikes (retiring in 2013), Bovin joined his former sports director Steve Bauer, the only Canadian in the top 10. Bauer finished second in 2010, eighth in 1988 and fourth in 1991.

Michael Woods finished 17th after winning the Canadian Championships after competing in his first Tour de France for fifth place at the Tokyo Olympics.^E At last week’s World Championships in Flanders, Guillum Bovine placed an exclamation mark on the “great season”.

“I have made progress and above all I have confidence in my tool,” said the 32-year-old cyclist. I am doubly inspired and I look forward to next year’s classics season. ”

Although the X-rays did not reveal a crack, Bovin had already decided that he would not go to his friend Woods’ Milan-Turin on Wednesday, and the Lombardy tour on Saturday, the fifth and final, as planned. Season monument.