It was Fabien Barel.
That’s pretty funny.Yes, we rode some runs together, and it’s interesting to get the experience from him.
That’s quite funny. In the same way that Jared Graves (ex 4X World Champ, World Cup DH racer and Clementz’s nearest rival in this year’s EWS) comes from the Chris Kovarik, Nathan Rennie era, I guess you’ve come from the Pascal, Gracia, Barel era.Yes, I still have a poster of Nico Vouilloz in my room where my parents live. I had a poster when he was eight–time world champion. I was putting a cross with ‘nine’, and then another cross with ‘ten’.
But now you are World Champion.Yes, but only once. Not ten times.
What did it feel like yesterday when you were on the podium and you had these multiple World Champions flanking you either side? You had Jared one side and Fabien the other? It must have been pretty crazy.It was a good feeling. Especially as I never rode bikes with this goal in mind. I just started because I loved it. Step by step, I got better, then a proper team, then get paid to do that. Now I’m professional. So yes, it’s something crazy. The level of these guys makes you want to do well, and you can see how professional they are – how they train and stuff. So you learn a lot being with these guys.
We should talk about the year then, I guess. Were you surprised at how consistent Jared was?Yes, of course. I wasn’t too surprised in Punta Ala because that had short, technical stages and also just small sprints in the physical parts. So I knew that Jared was strong and powerful. But where I started to be a bit surprised was in Val d’Allos. We had a 15 minute stage with 5 minute pedalling sections sometimes. Jared was still in the fight for the win. So there, I thought, “you’re going to be there for the year”. I think I’m lucky that it was his first year of Enduro, because he made some beginner’s mistakes that I’m pretty sure he will not do next year.
What were those beginner’s mistakes?Small crashes, he tried to push too hard, didn’t find the limit, tyres, there were a few things. He broke the radar.
How do you find the limit?A lot of racing in the past. That helps. I think I’ve raced enduro for 10 years now, so I’ve started to get to know how I have to ride on a blind trail or with little practice. I try to not have big crashes. I crashed here in Finale, but I just jumped off the bike. It was not a big crash where you smash your whole bike.
When you say “find the limit” even Fabien was saying, “Are you guys f–king serious? Seventh when Nico Lau won the stage by seven seconds. He’s like “that’s ridiculous”. You guys are already absolutely flat out.I was fast, but I was sure that I would not crash… not 100% sure, but almost sure, that I will not crash. But I think Nico (Lau) just put in an amazing run. He had a time penalty (he missed a control check) and he wanted to show that he was the fastest.
After Punta Ala were you surprised that Fabien won that one?No. I’ve known Fabien since I was a junior, and he’s a racer. When he starts something he does it 100%. So I knew when he said last year he was going to come back to Enduro that he would prepare for it and do it in the right way.>>
