Benjamin Thomas, the leader in French endurance racing, won on Saturday the omnium of the World Cycling Championships in Berlin, offering France its first gold medal in an Olympic discipline. In women, the pair Marie Le Net / Clara Copponi took a superb second place in American, with courage and the will to come and snatch the medal on the last sprint. The sprinters, however, missed their Worlds, with a premature elimination, in the round of 16 for Sébastien Vigier and in the eighth for Quentin Caleyron.
"A perfect omnium from start to finish"
Benjamin thomasWith five medals, one in gold, two in silver and two in bronze, France has however already equaled its total at the Pruszkow World Championships in Poland last year. Total that can be improved on Sunday since Thomas, again in the running for the American with the young Donavan Grondin, 19 years old, dreams of repeating his feat of 2017, when he returned with the two gold medals (associated with Morgan Kneisky on the American). "We have a good chance with Donavan," he said after stepping off the open podium. I used to chain the two in two days, we are both in good condition, we will give the best ”.
On the omnium, a combined discipline chaining four tests in the same day, the Tarnais dominated the debates in beefy. "A perfect omnium from start to finish," he commented. I always believed in it, the legs were good and I didn't make any mistakes ”. Winner of the scratch, the first event of the day, he took second place in the tempo race (one point for the winner of each sprint every two laps) and fourth in the elimination race. In the final event, the points race, he knocked out his entry opponents by winning three of the first five sprints. And he managed to take a lap in the peloton, three laps from the finish, in the company of the Dutchman van Schip, which earned him a bonus of 20 points and the definitive insurance of world gold.
Marie Le Net and Clara Copponi in full light
The other big smile of the day came from the young duo of the American Marie Le Net, 20, and Clara Copponi, 21. They went to snatch a silver medal behind the untouchable Dutch Kirsten Wild / Amy Pieters, who offered their country a fifth gold medal. The Net and Copponi placed an attack towards the middle of the race which allowed them to make several laps in the lead and to accumulate points, but which also cost them a lot of energy. "Yes, in the end we were really on the edge, but if we go looking for it too easily (the medal) it's not funny," said Marie Le Net, overwhelmed with happiness at the finish like her teammate: "C 'was for those who wanted to go get it the most ...' On equal points with the Italians just before the final packaging, the two French women indeed found the resources to win the very last sprint.
In speed, the failure of the French, however, promises some headaches for the coaches before the Olympics. "No one is 100% guaranteed to go to the Games," said manager Bruno Lecki. “It is never good to underperform, it is never positive to argue for a selection, but you have to look at where everyone has been for two years now. You have to put it all together and not just focus on one result ”. The other world titles of the day, in non-Olympic events, went to German Lea Sophie Friedrich for 500 meters against the clock, and to 23-year-old American star Chloe Dygert, who twice beat her own world record in individual pursuit.
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