Lourdes World Cup Winner Interviews - "It Was Like a Football Stadium"

It's safe to say the World Cup season has started with a bang! The French crowd flocked in their droves to Lourdes to create an electric atmosphere underneath the Pic du Jer. We caught up with the race winners Camille Balanche and Amaury Pierron, and the man behind the bike they both won on, Max Commencal, to get some instant reactions to an incredible race.

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What are your first reactions to that win?

It’s amazing, it cannot feel better. It’s the first World Cup, it’s really early in the season, I’m on a brand new bike and I’ve just ridden it for like six days so I wasn’t really, really confident. I was like, "it's just good training, a good test". For sure, I was going for top five but I knew the girls were pretty fast, Pompon and Vali were four seconds faster than me in quali so I was like, “woah, I need to wake up”. I really tired to push in the first bit and just ride really good and on my lines at the bottom and it paid off, so really really happy.

It's the second year in a row that you've won the first World Cup of the year, what's your secret?

I don’t know! I thought last year it was because I really liked Leogang so that was a bit why I won and honestly I didn’t think I would be so good in Lourdes. It’s the first time I’m here and I didn’t feel really great on the track. I don’t know, maybe I was stressing a little bit less than the others or I won’t say I have less expectations but honestly when I was at the start I felt really good. I felt like, “OK, do what you can, just have fun and go for the top five would be nice" but I wasn’t putting pressure on myself or anything. I could tell I was feeling great, my body was relaxed and that was really nice.

Did the crowd help during your run?

Honestly not really. For sure, I love it and you can hear it’s really noisy but I don’t think I’m a person that reacts a lot. Like, I know all the people who go even faster when they hear more noise and I don’t think I’m this kind of person but it feels so good to have people everywhere when you come down and you have all the kids there for autographs and stuff. It feels so good to have the people back and the whole atmosphere is so sick but I don’t think I’m riding faster because of the crowd.

Vali was going red, then green, then red on her run. How was that in the hotseat?

Yeah, I was so stressed. I did my job and I was like, "ok, at least I’m not losing three seconds again in the first bit" but honestly I wasn’t expecting to be that good at the bottom. Then I thought Vali will come second and it was so close and I didn’t feel like it was amazing at the bottom but apparently it was really good so I’m just so stoked. It’s just so cool to see that we are so close and not like in quality where I was four seconds behind. It was a bit like, "woah, shit". So now to see that all the top five is so close Is just so exciting and it pushed me so much

What will you be doing now in the long break to Fort William?

We are planning to do some testing nearby Fort William and maybe I will stay and do the BDS. For sure it will be nice to be home and just like go back to training. I haven’t been going to the gym so much because we did a lot of training camps this year. I’m sure it was really good to ride so much, we did two races or so before and I think I was really good but I also need to be home a bit more and have my routine so for sure going to spend a lot of time at home.

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How are you feeling Amaury?

I’m just over the moon! Pretty insane. I was not expecting it because I’ve been sick during the last two weeks. I had super low energy and it was hard just to keep awake all day long.

And today was super long, this weekend. After qualifying I had a crash and I hurt pretty bad my ankle. It was super painful so we worked with the physio and I’m super stoked on the win.

How does it feel to give the new bike its first win?

I’m just super stoked, first World Cup with the new bike and also first place. I’m super stoked for everybody at Commencal who worked super hard to deliver us this bike. It has been super close to get it just in time for the first race of the season so yeah a big big job from everyone at Commencal and from the team, my trainers, my family.

How much did the crowd help?

For sure the crowd helped me a lot this weekend and especially today because it was hard and the French crowd are just pushing you to your best. It was insane to ride, it was like in a football stadium.

How long do you hope to hang on to that leader's jersey?

The goal is to have it at the end so if I can keep it all the year it will be a dream. For now I’m just focussing on repeating the wins. That’s the goal, is winning races.

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Two wins today on your new bike, how does that feel?

I could not hope for a better start for the bike and I’m so happy because it’s really the world for all the staff, they did all this. But also our competitors are really strong so but I’m happy, happy to win.

Were there a few nervous moments as you were watching the riders come down?

Always! I’ve been going to the races for a long, long time and love the races - to have adrenaline and to try to help the riders and to make the best bikes. It’s fantastic. And the crowd, I never saw so many people.

That’s true, I used to say Fort William was the best World Cup for fans, I don’t think that’s the case anymore, it's Les Gets and Lourdes now, right?

No, no, I think this year will be crazy. We have a chance to, nothing can disturb our lives you know because a life inside is sad. But if we have a chance that things can go well, ok I think that the season will be amazing.

What do you think it means for Amaury to win in front of his home fans here?

For Amaury, I think if I had to gamble on someone it was for Amaury. Amaury wanted this victory. Yesterday he had been a little bit injured but they are warriors. All these riders and I have a lot of respect for Finn, for Loic for Loris for all of them. I think that the battles this year will be amazing.

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Racing and Events DH Racing World Cup DH Lourdes Dh World Cup 2022