Victoire Berteau was crowned French road cycling champion by winning on Saturday June 24 in the road race in Cassel, in the North. On her land – she is from Douai – the 22-year-old runner (Cofidis) won after a suffocating end of the race, overcoming her breakaway companions in the last meters of the ascent. final.
Accompanied by the 2019 French champion Jade Wiel (3eFDJ-Suez) and Coralie Demay (4eSaint-Michel Mavic Auber 93) 30 kilometers from the finish, Victoire Berteau showed patience, until she saw Marie Le Net (2e, FDJ-Suez) join the leading group a few hundred meters from the final line. In the last wall of the Cassel circuit, the surprising track rider then took the lead, beating the riders of the FDJ-Suez team at the post.
The “Chti”, in addition to winning a major national success, won at the same time its first victory on the professional circuit. An event as unexpected as hoped: “I heard my first name everywhere, it was really crazy, I heard my parents every time I passedtold Victoire Berteau at the microphone of Eurosport. I’ve never won, and I’m winning for the first time in my life in the French championship, it’s wonderful. »
A tough journey and a surprising result
In the pre-race, all the signals led to believe that the route of this race in line was reserved for punchers. With 99.8 kilometers and almost 2,000 meters of elevation gain, Hazebrouck-Cassel made the peloton suffer, its first part, quite flat, having quickly given way to a bumpy loop, which the riders had to complete six times.
If Victoire Berteau came to the end in 2 hours 57 minutes and 33 hundredths, the defending champion, Audrey Cordon-Ragot (12eHuman Power Head Health), announced among the favorites, did not manage to pull out of the peloton, concluding the race almost two minutes later.
Another contender for the national crown, Juliette Labous (Team DSM) finished in 8e place. Disappointed but a beautiful player, the 24-year-old runner wanted to salute the winner of the day: “ The shot did not go off the pedal. But I’m really happy for Victoire, a girl you always see at the front in the races. »
Asked about a potential participation in the Tour de France 2023, Victoire Berteau answered in the negative, preferring, she says, “preparing the track world championships, with a view to Paris 2024, [son] target for next year.