Ninth participation in worlds, ninth place in the keirin event. Cyclist Hugo Barrette signed the best individual result of his career at the World Championships on Thursday at the Stab Vélodrome in Roubaix.
Barrette initially finished sixth in his heat in the first round, which forced him through the repechage. The 30-year-old track rider was the fastest in this second race with a time of 10.229s.
Only 20 minutes later, the athlete from the Magdalen Islands found himself on the starting line for the semi-finals. Exhausted, he was the last of his group to cross the finish line.
“It happened so quickly. I knew what to do and where to position myself, but I just hadn’t recovered enough. I was not able to do as usual, ”said Hugo Barrette, in an interview with Sportcom.
Barrette rode for seventh place at the end of the day. He started this final round in the inside lane and held the lead for the first three laps. His opponents then sped up. After various attacks, it was finally the German Stefan Boetticher who triumphed, followed by the Thai Jai Angsuthasawit and Barrette, who thus points to 9and step of the final classification.
“Of course I always want to win, but I have executed “, he acknowledged, satisfied with his performance.
“It’s a contest of circumstances for the places (at the start) and to be first (inside) is difficult, especially in the big rounds with a lot of skilled people arriving very quickly. I managed well all the same and a ninth place is still a top 10 global. We always want more, but I’ll take it! »
In the grand final, Dutchman Harrie Lavrevsen defended his title by winning just ahead of his compatriot Jeffrey Hoogland (+0.07 seconds). Russian Mikhail Yakovlev (+0.101 seconds) completed the podium.
The day before, the Dutch team won the gold medal in the team sprint, while Barrette and his teammates finished seventh. Note that Lavrevsen had achieved such a double at the Tokyo Olympics this summer.
Hugo Barrette had managed to qualify for the Roubaix World Championships at the Cali Nations Cup last September. He notably won a gold medal in the team sprint, in addition to placing fourth in the keirin. The event also allowed him to turn the page on his heartbreaking fall at the Tokyo Games.
Lauriane Genest reaches the semi-finals
A little earlier, Lauriane Genest was in action in the women’s sprint qualifications. After losing the first set, she came back from behind in the quarter-finals to go to the semi-finals, which will take place on Friday.
Posting the fifth time of the qualifications, Genest had the upper hand on the Ukrainian Alla Biletska in the round of 16.
She then faced the French Mathilde Gros, bronze medalist in this discipline at the 2019 worlds.
