Clément Venturini and Zonhoven

NewsDec 20, 2024

World Team TeamWomen TeamDevelopment TeamZonhoven (CX)

The sixth round of the 2024-2025 Cyclo-cross World Cup takes place on the legendary Zonhoven circuit in Belgium this Sunday 22 December. Clément Venturini talks in detail about his experience and his approach to this event, which is as eagerly awaited as it is feared by all the world's crosswomen and crossmen.

Clément Venturini

It's a World Cup that on paper doesn't really suit me, because we're riding in sand, and as a French I am not used to that. But for me, Zonhoven is a bit like a legendary Grand Tour stage, with 5,000 metres of ascent and descent. You know it's going to be tough at the start, but once you've crossed the finish line, you're proud to have finished. This World Cup round is unique in that it takes place in a quarry, and all you do is go up and down in a sort of pit. And each side of the course is filled with a huge crowd. You go back and forth and it's impressive from the outside, but also from the inside. Because when you're at the top and you have to launch yourself into the pit, you squeeze your buttocks a bit, and the crowd around you pushes you, or shouts when a competitor falls. The descent is a sheer drop, and you can't see anything. You throw yourself into it and try to keep a trace and make it to the bottom. You feel like you're riding in a football stadium for an hour, there's so much noise from the crowd.

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