The Luxembourgish Marie Schreiber opened the the national championships weekend in the superb fashion for Tormans Cyclo Cross Team.
Starting this Saturday on the soggy Ettelbruck circuit, she won the team’s first national title in the U23 category after five laps of the flat circuit which notably included a carousel and a sandbox.
With only 18 years of age, she delivered an impressive performance full of maturity, during which she long stood up to Christine Majerus, eleven times champion in the Elite category. Schreiber was the only one who could compete with Majerus for most of the race, with only twenty seconds separating them as they entered the final lap. Her second place finish behind Majerus means that Schreiber will earn the privilege of wearing the Luxembourg U23 cyclo-cross champion jersey for the coming year.
One year after missing the fight for the tricolor jersey due to a broken collarbone, Frenchman Théo Thomas headed to the U23 French Championships in Liévin, not far from the border with Belgium, with the bit between his teeth. Driven by strength of character, Thomas fought for the medal places until the very end after leading the first two laps. A couple of hours after Schreiber, the 20-year-old Alsatian brilliantly honored the colors of Tormans with fifth place in the race won by Romain Grégoire.
At 3.15 p.m., Shana Maes started her fifth Belgian Championships in the Elite category on the sandy Middelkerke circuit. While the rain did not have too much of an impact on the course, the breeze did come to stir the passages along the coast. Remaining true to herself, Maes battled through the dunes of the North Sea, and after six laps she secured 19th place in the black-yellow-red jersey race won by Sanne Cant. In doing so, she earned her fifth top 20 at the Belgian championships in as many participations in the Elite category.
I am very happy with this first title in the U23 category! It’s of course a shame not to be able to put on my new jersey in competition because I’ll be mainly competing in the Elite races, but that doesn’t dampen my joy. The biggest challenge today was to maintain full concentration throughout the cross. The extremely slippery muddy surface was like an ice rink. Avoiding technical faults was the main issue. I slipped on the first lap, which quickly caused me to lose contact with Christine Majerus. Subsequently, I managed to keep her in my sights, so I am happy with my performance.
