When Christine Majerus soloed to victory in Schengen on Saturday, she celebrated a mind-boggling 25th national title. Ten times Luxembourgish champion on the road and seven times in the time trial, Majerus is now an eight-time cyclocross national champion.
“Obviously not winning would have been a disappointment,” said Majerus. “I know that the jersey isn’t ‘mine’ but I know nothing else except these colours. I’m happy that I can still wear my favourite jersey.”
A new venue played host to Luxembourg’s national championships. With temperatures never rising above zero on Saturday, the new course held alongside an artificial lake was completely frozen.
“It was honestly the worst weather conditions I’ve faced all year,” said Majerus. “It was freezing cold – I’m still trying to get warm more than an hour after the race – and the ground was completely frozen.”
“The lap was turning all the time, so it was hard to keep the pressure high,” noted Majerus. “It took me one lap to get into a good rhythm.”
Two laps into the five-lap race, Majerus settled into her own pace. With a commanding lead, she was able to ride conservatively in the second half of the race.
“In the end, I didn’t take any more risks because the speaker kept talking about the crashes at the junior races, which calmed me a little bit,” said Majerus. “The main challenge today was holding myself back, to take no risks.”
Majerus will sit out the Telent UCI World Cup in Italy next weekend. She will instead show her national colours at home.
“I’m doing the C2 races in Luxembourg instead of the World Cup in Italy to have less travel stress,” said Majerus. “I’m happy with my choice to stay close to home.”
It’s one national championship down, one still to come for Boels-Dolmans Cycling Team. Nikki Brammeier aims to defend her British title in Bradford on Sunday. |
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