An exciting day. It was the first World Cup race of the season and the racing was excellent. As it is now kind of customary for the US races, the men’s event came first. And what a race it was. As per usual, I couldn’t follow every nuance of the race, as I was concentrating on taking shots, but as a new leader emerged in front of my lens in almost every lap, I kind of knew that this must be an good one.
Then came the women’s race and it was just as unpredictable. I felt strangely involved in the race, when Maghalie Rochette took over the lead in the race. It all started last year, when she contacted me last year before the Bern round of the World Cup and asked me if I could take photos of her during the race. I happily obliged and she finished in fifth place. From then onwards, whenever her and her boyfriend/mechanic/team manager, David came over to race, we chatted and we became friends(ish).
I saw how hard she trained, how hard she worked and how she made the her privateer team setup work. So, when she headed out for the last lap today in the lead, I was really hoping that she was going to be able to finish it off and win her first World Cup. And she did it and I felt very proud, even though I literally had no part in the win. It was just nice to see one of the nicest riders of the field win a hard race. Congratulations, Maghalie!
It’s time to pack up, I’m off to a mini-tour of the US, heading down to Houston and to LA until next Saturday, when I’m flying back to Chicago for the Trek CX World Cup. Can’t wait to see how it will unfold!
