Cross-country skiing: a convincing end to the World Cup winter for Juliette Ducordeau
Juliette Ducordeau, who took part in the cross-country skiing World Cup stages in Ruka (Finland) and Lillehammer (Norway) at the start of the winter, lost her place on the discipline’s flagship circuit after her performances fell short of the expectations of the French staff.
“She had a serious virus in October, which meant she couldn’t train and which shook her up quite a bit. We were able to confirm that she was capable of climbing at high intensity afterwards,” explains Alexandre Pouyé to Nordic Magazine. We took our time, but we lacked a little bit of work to be able to really take it at the start of the season. And there’s no tougher start to the season than the races in Beitostølen and Ruka. So she broke her teeth a little bit there.
So the Villardienne was back in action on the European FESA Cup circuit. After two stops in St. Ulrich am Pillersee (Austria) and Oberwiesenthal (Germany), the Iséroise native returned to the elite at the Les Rousses (Jura) stage in January.
However, despite a lot of desire, the 26-year-old found herself relegated to the lower tier once again. But with a successful run at La Transju’, where she won brilliantly, and two podium finishes at the FESA Cup in Planica (Slovenia), she had earned the right to finish the winter in the World Cup.
” By always trying to find the right settings, I think she’s found the right ones for the end of the season”.Alexandre Pouyé at Nordic Magazine
“After that, it took a little while to rebuild. But in the end, by always trying to find the right adjustments, I think she’s found the right ones for the end of the season,” says her coach with satisfaction. She had a solid month of March. She knew she didn’t have much room for error with the French Cup, FESA Cup and World Cup in quick succession.
“For the World Cup, we had to do a bit of a step-by-step plan where there wasn’t much room for error. The form really picked up at that point. It really put in place what we wanted,” he confirms. In other words, more solidity in the way she skied and a bit more work on race management. She gave us a great weekend in Oslo.
Back in the top 20 at Oslo-Holmenkollen (Norway), Juliette Ducordeau confirmed that she can be counted on to perform in both classic and skateboard: “I think she’s someone who learns a lot step by step and year by year. She’s building up little by little and she needs to validate things before she can really envisage solid progress. It takes time and that’s what her season is all about,” sums up the French coach.
“There’s always plenty to work on with her. She’s extremely interested and passionate about taking charge of her project and finding the things that will help her progress,” adds Alexandre Pouyé. We need to keep the reference points from the end of the season and build something solid on them, while trying to erase a little of the remaining shortcomings.
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