Cycling Worlds: Axel Laurance crowned world champion among hopefuls

2023-08-12 18:19:56

“My goal is to have no regrets. Before the race, Axel Laurance knew that the course of the Glasgow Worlds could suit him, but he didn’t dare get too wet. A few hours later, the Breton became world champion hopefuls at the end of a solo raid of 25.5 km, as Mathieu van der Poel had done in the elite last Sunday. A huge feat after a major performance for this son and brother of professional cyclists.

This Saturday, the French had legs of fire. Present in the morning break with his compatriot Antoine Huby, Axel Laurance spent the whole day at the front. Alongside the Italian Milesi, the German Kretschy and the Briton Rootkin-Gray, he resisted the return of the peloton for a long time. Only two riders, the Slovak Martin Svrcek and the Portuguese Antonio Morgado managed to make the leap to join the leading group.

5th French U23 World Champion

Just under 26 km from the finish, in one of the short difficulties of the final circuit, the Frenchman tried his luck by placing a violent attack. Even if he could never count on more than 25 seconds in advance, he held on, well helped by the bad agreement in the chasing group. He finally won alone, two seconds ahead of Antonio Morgado and Martin Svrcek.

Axel Laurance succeeds the Kazakh Yevgeniy Fedorov on the list of these World hopefuls. Before him, several French people had already won the rainbow jersey in this category: Benoît Cosnefroy (2017), Kévin Ledanois (2015), Arnaud Démare (2011) and Romain Sicard (2009). A nice revenge for a 22-year-old rider who no longer had a team last December after the disappearance of the B&B Hotels-KTM team, due to lack of funding.

family of cyclists

After this disappointment, the Breton had found a place in the reserve team of Alpecin-Deceuninck, the team of Mathieu van der Poel. Under his new colours, he notably won the 4th stage of the Tour Alsace on July 29th. These results should allow him to join the professional squad of the Belgian team next January.

Coming from a family of cyclists, Axel Laurence is the son of Frank, winner of Liège-Bastogne-Liège espoirs in 1994, and the brother of Typhaine, French junior champion in 2015. A family that must have thrilled by attending the victory of the new world champion, imperial in the streets of Glasgow.