MTB: Ludovic Delpech, of course!

On this very demanding route, the peloton did not stay together for very long. FREE MIDI – MIKAËL ANISSET

Calé dans la roue de Thibaut Rongy, Ludovic Delpech a sagement attendu son heure. MIDI LIBRE – MIKAËL ANISSET

Already winner of the round in Vauvert, Nîmes Ludovic Delpech did it again, Sunday April 21 in Congénies, during the 2024 Gard MTB Challenge.

On May 12, if Ludovic Delpech participates in Montdardier in the Viganais Trophy, part of the 4th round of the Gard Mountain Bike Challenge, the competition will just have to behave . This 2024 edition, the 28-year-old Nîmes Cyclisme licensee indeed won the two times he lined up at the start. On February 11 in Vauvert, drowning adversity in the retention basin, before doing it again, this Sunday, in Congénies, after a mano a mano with Antony Zaragoza (Teyran Bike).

''Just at the end (6.6 km course to be completed four times, editor's note), at the time of the last bump, I managed to get back on the dish, smiled, marked features but great happiness, Clément's older brother, absent in Vaunage. I knew that at the start, I was at full strength but also that I could make an attack, no more.''

Antony Zaragoza took stock

A final mine which was enough to get the better of Zaragoza, coming to Congénies… by bike (he lives in Langlade, 10 km away) and left happy despite his second place, twenty seconds behind Delpech (1h23’09’’ against 1h22’49’& ;rsquo;) : ''This race allowed me to take stock after my week of training, near Nice, with a view to preparing for the championships of France.''

In two weeks, in Levens (Alpes-Maritimes), it will be different music for everyone and, this time, Zaragoza will not run on ''a mule , laughed the 27-year-old former Calvissonnais about the bike he rode this Sunday. I have a steel frame. At the end, I had no more juice, it was hard on this very brittle, wearing circuit.''

If the duo ended up relegating to the distance a peloton quickly stretched into the scrubland, according to the climbs (four in total) which followed one another, a third thief, Thibaut Rongy, came invited to the party for the first kilometers.

Thibaut Rongy, road and mountain biking suit him so well

In the lead at the end of the 2.45km start-loop, the resident of Team Élite (white jersey) from Calvisson VTT, made life difficult for his opponents, before breaking down. ''Technically, I'm not good enough, admitted, between lucidity and self-deprecation, the junior 2, 18 years old, who joined the Gard club at the start of the season. When they (Delpech and Zaragoza) saw that I was not moving forward on the descents, they took the lead.''

If the original Tarn-et-Garonnais, recent regional vice-champion on the road, has already made an appointment for tomorrow, he also responded to Congénies in his category, easy winner in 1h05’14’’ on the single tracks and DFCI of Vaunage. ''The team manager, Pascal Viciana, told us that it would be good to come and represent the Team'', he noted. An ideal preparation for him before one of his goals for the season: ''There, I'm going to go to the French championship hoping to make a Top 10.&# 39;'

I subscribe to read more