Cross-country skiing: Les Bleus failed to make the difference in Trondheim
It was a hard blow for Les Bleus at the world championships in Trondheim (Norway) on Thursday. Beaten in the final heat of the men’s relay, Rémi Bourdin and Jules Lapierre were unable to get back on the medal trail in a format that has often favoured the French at recent international events.
After finishing fourth, Rémi Bourdin and Jules Lapierre agreed to talk to Nordic Magazine about their latest disappointment, just a few minutes after the analysis by their leader Hugo Lapalus.
Rémi Bourdin (first relay)
“There was a huge atmosphere. It was really crazy to experience that. I was really excited and I really wanted to do it. I’m happy with what I did and the shape I was in. On the first lap, I got stuck on [Erik] Valnes’ skis and it was going really well. I really wanted to pick up the pace. Unfortunately, I had to pick up the pace and I don’t think I got the hang of it. After that, it’s always hard to say, but I really had the right watts when I pushed, so I really relied on that and tried to capitalise on it and put everything into it. You always want to do better.
“From a collective point of view, we’re really disappointed with the result. After that, we all did what we could. We don’t really have any regrets. The instructions for the day were to get involved in the race. In Planica, that wasn’t the case and it cost a lot of money. That wasn’t the case here, but it’s a big disappointment not to go for the medal.
“But with Mathis [Desloges] coming up against the two big guns [Valerio Grond and Edvin Anger NDLR] at the end, it was difficult to hope for anything better than fourth place. Personally, I trained a lot with Mathis. I really had confidence in him. I knew that he could be really strong with a bit of intense effort. There were some nice uphill sections. But we could see that it didn’t make any difference at all. It was still complicated, but at the same time, I had confidence in him. I wanted to believe in him. He played really well and gave it everything he had. It’s not his fault at all. We played our cards right.
“I was a lot more stressed on the track after my stint”.Rémi Bourdin at Nordic Magazine
“In our team, it’s definitely more profitable to be on 10 kilometre tracks. And especially more difficult runs. In the skiathlon, the skate part didn’t make much difference. In classical skiing, it’s really hard, but in skateboarding, that’s not the case. That didn’t work to our advantage today.
“I was much more stressed on the track after my stint than before the race. In front of the screen, you feel powerless. You want to experience the best moments, but that wasn’t the case today. In the years to come, I hope to have my place in this relay so that I can go and achieve something great.
“It was a huge experience. I still did a good relay. But you’re up against the best and you always want to perform. We knew there was a huge chance of a medal. We all wanted to bring it home for the team. We wanted to cheer up the whole group. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen and it’s complicated.
Jules Lapierre (third relay)
“I felt good for the whole of the relay. We said we’d have to ‘grind’ to try and get into a smaller group. I skied the first lap well. I still put in a lot and I felt pretty good. But at the end of the lap, I was a bit more under pressure. I lacked some punch. I think that on a slightly longer track, it would have suited me better. Everything goes faster over 7.5 kilometres.
“It’s another big slap in the face”.Jules Lapierre at Nordic Magazine
“When you start to get into the swing of things, it plunges straight into the descent behind. After that, it’s easy to get into the flats. We’d already seen from the skiathlon that it would be hard to make a difference in skateboarding. We tried anyway, but it didn’t really work out.
“Teams like Switzerland and Canada hung on until the end. We were on a fairly easy track. But I don’t know what we could have done better. Unfortunately, it’s another big slap in the face. One disappointment after another. It’s frustrating because, overall, the team is in good shape and we’re there. But we’re missing that little something that makes the difference. We’re all disappointed and we’re going to work to get better.
“It’s always close. It’s disappointing because we wanted to win a team medal at these World Championships. In France, it’s an event that’s very close to our hearts. We also wanted to take revenge after Planica. It’s also frustrating because I think that we’re a very strong nation and that things can work out. Now there’s the 50km skate”.
Read also
- “We missed out on a lot of our objectives”: another frustrating result for Hugo Lapalus in the World Championships relay
- Trondheim: beaten in the final, the French finish at the foot of the podium in the relay won by an untouchable Norway
