First gold medal for France: Donavan Grondin won Thursday in Roubaix the men’s scratch in the World Track Championships, shortly after the silver medal for the pursuers.
Grondin (21) won the sprint in this 60-lap (15 km) long race which is not on the Olympic program, unlike the team pursuit, one of the benchmark events on the track.
I had in mind not to crack, to give everything and I succeeded
“It had been a while since I had scratched,” welcomed the winner, bronze medalist at the Tokyo Olympics in the American race. “You never know what’s going to happen, it’s random. In the last lap, I had in mind not to crack, to give everything and I succeeded.”
STRATOSPHERIC! DONAVAN GRONDIN IS WORLD SCRATCH CHAMPION!
ud83d udeb4 ud83c uddeb ud83c uddf7 The 21-year-old Frenchman takes the race in hand with 2 laps to go and wins the boss at the Stab ‘Vélodrome. First title for France at Roubaix
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– francetvsport (@francetvsport) October 21, 2021
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For the chasers, much happier than Mathilde Gros whose individual sprint tournament ended in the quarter-finals, the silver medal is a welcome reward. The previous podium dated from … 2003.
Thomas, Henry, Tabellion and Denis strong
In the final, the Blues bowed to the Italian quartet, Olympic champion in Tokyo in the wake of the overkill Filippo Ganna, after having resisted until two laps from the finish in a final much more indecisive than expected.
“We exploded on the last kilometer. Thomas Denis sacrificed himself and” La Boude “(Thomas Boudat) found himself in the lead with two laps, which was a bit long for him. We are learning little by little”, explained Benjamin Thomas, the driving force behind the quartet.
Not qualified for the Tokyo Olympics, the group coached by Steven Henry achieved the most convincing performance in its history. With Valentin Tabellion (22 years old) and Thomas Denis (24 years old), two runners licensed on the road in Roubaix, next to Benjamin Thomas and the “ghost” Thomas Boudat, world champion of the 2014 omnium who had left the track after the 2016 Olympics in Rio.
? The Blues held out against the Italians but lost in the final of the men’s team pursuit
Thomas Boudat, Thomas Denis, Valentin Tabellion and Benjamin Thomas bring back the 2nd French silver medal in Roubaix
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– francetvsport (@francetvsport) October 21, 2021
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The medal rewards a long work in counterpoint to a sinusoidal performance curve which closed the access of the Tokyo Olympics to chasers, who arrived too late in the race for quotas.
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