2024-02-14 07:11:23
“As a young girl, she comes to Tábor to carry a muddy bicycle up the stairs?” This message was seen on social networks a week ago during the cyclocross world championships, and its author shook her head at the difficulty of racing in the mud. It was Kristýna Zemanová who won the silver in the under-23 category on the difficult home track, and in an interview with Aktuálně.cz, she talks not only about this success.
Zemanová improved her result by one step at the World Championships after a year, when she followed up the bronze medal with the second place. And then she described the race in front of a boisterous home audience as one of the nicest experiences in her life.
“It was a hard, fair and fair race. But it was beautiful. Everything fit me that day, I was 100 percent able to sell what I had trained for. The atmosphere was wonderful,” the 20-year-old Czech returns to the first Sunday in February.
She was not enough for the favored British Zoe Bäckstedtová, but in the last lap she successfully broke away from the third Dutch Leonie Bentveldová and enjoyed the silver celebrations.
Many spectators were impressed by how muddy and demanding the terrain was in Tábor, but in cyclocross it’s not that unusual.
“You ride in any weather, sometimes it’s obviously far beyond the comfort level. Sometimes I wonder why I’m actually doing it, but I always think it’s more for fun. I enjoy it a lot,” describes Zemanová.
“I fell in love with cyclocross right away, because it combines cycling and running, which are the two activities I like the most. I enjoy the variety of races, tracks and conditions on them. It’s attractive. A cyclocrosser should be a comprehensive competitor and must be able to ride on everything, ” he continues.
The conditions in Tábor therefore did not surprise her. “The weather is quite changeable this season, and I’m used to everything. I prefer dry and fast races, I like tracks on sand, but the mud didn’t throw me off,” she says.
Despite her young age, Zemanová is already a three-time Czech champion among adult women, and beyond her category, she is asserting herself in the World Cup as well. In the current season, she was also fourth among women.
“I’m still a few steps away from peaking. Before next season, I’d like to do more races on the road in preparation, I have a certain vision in my head. However, cyclocross will continue to be a priority, I won’t change that,” points out the member of the Brilon Racing Team from Mladá Boleslav.
Thanks to recent results, she is one of the new stars of Czech cycling, while in Tábor she was also at the farewell of the legend Zdenek Štybara.
The three-time cyclocross world champion and stage winner of the Vuelta and Tour de France concluded a rich career in front of his home fans, but then he had to share the attention somewhat with Zemanová.
Kristýna Zemanová as Cycling Queen 2023. | Photo: Michal Červený
“I don’t think so again,” smiles the queen of Czech cycling for 2023. “Mostly people came to see him, support him and say goodbye to him. He was also my role model from an early age,” she adds.
“It was an honor to stand next to him in Tábor. He helped us all when he rode the course with us, discussed it with us and motivated us. When he then reached the finish line himself, I had chills running down my spine. It was really moving,” he recounts. Zemanova.
The last two races of the season in Belgium await on Saturday 17th and Sunday 18th February. After them, the Czech Republic is already looking forward to a well-deserved break.
“In the last few days, it’s been a bit hectic, sometimes even exhausting. Someone is always writing to me, the phone is constantly ringing. Basically, it took me exactly a week to sort out the answers to all the congratulations. I still have to train for that,” the new world vice-champion enumerates.
“But of course I’m happy about it. Everyone who wrote to me or who followed me and experienced the race with me made me extremely happy. I also thank my parents and the team, it’s thanks to them that I can dedicate myself to training and racing to the fullest,” concludes Zemanová.