I didn’t know what to expect from Besancon – scratch that, there was one thing I definitely expected and that was snow. A lot of it. I’ve seen quite a few posts on social media and they all showed big piles of snow. As I was driving yesterday toward Besancon, I was waiting and waiting for the snow, but there wasn’t any by the time I got here.
And the course? I liked it, a lot. Lots of different features, quite hard and technical at places, yet still compact and the French spectators could do their usual thing: run from one spot to another the cheer on the riders in the same lap and then back. I always admired how much noise relatively few people can make. And there were plenty of reasons to make some noise: we’ve seen an amazing ride by Maghalie Rochette, her first European World Cup podium and the fight between Eli Iserbyt and Toon Aerts was probably the best of the season so far.
This was the first weekend with the new camera, a Sony A9 II and I feel like I’ve been shooting races for the last few years with one of my hands tied behind my back. It’s such a fantastic camera and it made my life so much easier. Sure, there were a few niggles, which were understandable, given that this was the second time I shot a race with it, but the positives vastly outweigh the very few negatives. Can’t wait to use it for the rest of the season.
I’m off home now and I’m a bit anxious about the coming weeks, as the Corona situation is getting worse once again and that will make travel more effortful (and probably more expensive as well). I just hope that the season won’t be curtailed and that we can finish it in February without any cancellations.
