Maghalie Rochette’s cyclocross results revealed
In early February, Maghalie Rochette was driving home to Montreal from the Louis Garneau office near Quebec City. She had worked on a video about the new partnership between her team, Clif Pro Team, and the Canadian cycling brand. It was a little more than a week since she’d finished fifth at the world cyclocross championships. She reflected on her time in Bieles, Luxembourg.
“A lot of people have asked me, ‘Were you surprised?’” she said. “To be honest, I didn’t really think about any results before. But it wasn’t a shock. I just had a good race. Nothing magical happened. I had a good race, and suddenly I was in the top five, and I stayed there. It was awesome, but it wasn’t a shock. Still, I was super happy and proud of the work. Mostly, I was happy to share that moment with people who had been supporting me for so long.” Those people included her boyfriend and coach David Gagnon and teammates Katerina Nash and Eva Lechner. Nash and Rochette trained and roomed together in the leadup to CX worlds. Rochette was happy for Nash, who finished third, and Lechner, who finished sixth.
Not only was Rochette not really thinking about results prior to worlds, she hadn’t thought too much about what her fifth-place finish meant. It’s the highest placement of an elite Canadian at a ’cross worlds. Wendy Simms was seventh in 2008 in Treviso, Italy. Lyne Bessette took the win in the masters cyclocross championships for women 35–39 in 2012 in Louisville, Ky. Rochette only found out on that drive that her result put in the company of Simms and Bessette. The current national CX champ said it was an honour.— MP