Cross-country skiing: Clément Parisse stronger than Mathis Desloges in the final
On Saturday in Les Saisies (Savoie), Clément Parisse held his nerve against the fiery Mathis Desloges. The Haut-Savoyard started out in the leading group that went on to win the committee relay at the French cross-country skiing championships, but he showed all his racing intelligence to give Mont-Blanc victory.
At first just a few metres behind, the Mégevan rider managed to catch up with the Dauphinois and overtake him in the final pack. “It was a really good battle. The young riders did a great job and I took over in third position, being really close to the front,” he told Nordic Magazine. I tried to get in fast enough without getting into trouble.
Mathis [Desloges] put in a big attack but I managed to keep the distance to come back on the descent,” he added a few minutes after stripping off his young compatriot. When I came back, I went straight through to try and reverse the trend.
It was a tactic that paid off, allowing him to celebrate the title for long minutes in the company of his team-mates for the day, Mallory Moreau and Johan Calandry: “It’s a very important day. These are always special races, whether they’re international or just like today with the committee. It’s an individual discipline, but it’s also a collective one with a whole staff behind us,” he says.
Clément Parisse at Nordic Magazine
A competition at the end of the season that is eagerly awaited by an entire caravan that regularly puts its last bit of strength into the battle: “It’s incredible to share these moments with young people and make them dream. When I was a cadet, I remember racing with Vincent Vittoz. Those are the things that stay with you and leave a lasting impression,” he recalls.
On Sunday, for the closing event of this 2025 edition of the national championships, Clément Parisse will be at the start of the closing mass-start classic, where the battle promises to be another breathtaking one. There’s a nice mass-start tomorrow and it’s going to be another great battle with my mates,” he says. The track is hard so it’s going to stretch out quite a bit. We’ll have to be well placed and intelligent.
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