2020 cross-country mountain bike world champion, Frenchman Jordan Sarrou hopes to wear a new rainbow jersey at home in Les Gets on Sunday August 28. France had not organized a Mountain Bike Worlds since 2004.
In Les Gets, in Haute-Savoie, Jordan Sarrou hopes to repeat his exploit of 2020, where he isolated himself quickly to win the rainbow jersey in Leogang in Austria. He had ended the reign of Nino Schurter, the eight-time world champion, crowned since 2015 without interruption. Champion of France elite for the first time at 27 years old a few months earlier, the Stéphanois had made a demonstration, dominating the race from start to finish. He had preceded the Swiss Mathias Flückiger and another Frenchman, Titouan Carod.
A rehearsal for Paris 2024
“ Yes, the main objective is necessarily these world championships at home. I want to do well. There will be this French public who will carry us “, rejoices Jordan Sarrou, disturbed by the Covid at the start of the season and vice-champion of France last July. The title of world champion is very important in the world of mountain biking and this race is the most prestigious. For one year after the title, the winner can wear this famous rainbow jersey, which distinguishes him.
For Jordan Sarrou, mountain biking, an Olympic discipline, is a family affair. His cousin competed and his uncle was club president. ” I was going to see him at the races and that made me want to. Being outside, feeling free, sharing moments with the family, that’s what I immediately liked about this sport. “, he explains.
Disappointed not to have gone to the Rio Olympics in 2016, ninth in Tokyo in 2021, Jordan Sarrou, 29, also dreams of Paris 2024. The Games at home are something rare, it’s once in a career and even never for some. I am coming of age and at Paris 2024, I would certainly be in my best years. I still have time ahead of me. And for the moment, I remain passionate about my sport “, he confides.
Big rehearsal before Paris 2024
These world championships in France are going to be a kind of big rehearsal before Paris 2024. With a race at home, we will have to manage the pressure from the public and the media. A form of great repetition. In 2004, Jordan Sarrou was in the audience. He was twelve at the time. Inevitably, the 2022 Worlds will have a particular flavor for Auvergnat.
In Les Gets, Jordan Sarrou will have to be wary of Briton Tom Pidcock, new European champion and big favourite. Pidcock crushed the cross-country of the European Championship on Friday August 19 in Munich for his reunion with the wide tires, nine days before the Worlds in Les Gets.
Tom Pidcock, the favorite
Highly anticipated among men, Tom Pidcock, 23, wants to achieve a crazy and unprecedented dream: the world title in cyclo-cross, mountain biking and on the road in one year. “ It would be nice to win all three titles. It’s not impossible, but I’m tackling it one race at a time “, tempered the Leeds phenomenon on Wednesday August 25. After a coronation in cyclo-cross in January in the United States, the Ineos nugget is the big favorite in Les Gets for the 2nd stage of his project. Swiss legend Nino Schurter, Romanian Vlad Dascalu and Frenchmen Titouan Carod and Jordan Sarrou will try to block his path in the cross-country event. Among the women, it is a Franco-French duel which should mark the event, between Joana Lecomte, 23, and Pauline Ferrand-Prévot, 30, who is aiming for a 4th world title.