Cyclocross Magazine Issue 3 – Arnaud Jouffroy beats Peter Sagan. photo by Joe Sales. Back copy still available.
Peter Sagan, newly crowned 2015 World Champion on the road, has had success at the world championships before, finishing a close silver as a Junior in cyclocross and sneaking onto our cover behind Frenchman Arnaud Jouffoy in 2008 in Treviso, Italy. Later that year Sagan would get revenge at the mountain bike world championships against Jouffroy to take the rainbow jersey on fat tires. In honor of his dramatic win at Worlds in Richmond, Virginia, here’s a look back at Sagan’s silver medal-winning cyclocross ride in Treviso, via a report originally published on January 25, 2008.
TREVISO, Italy — Sunny skies and relatively warm and dry conditions greeted today’s racers, with little mud on the Le Bandie Lake course in Treviso, Italy. To the casual observer, it might not seem like ‘cross. No mud, snow, ice, or barriers, and many riders in short sleeves. But true to ‘cross, the course still forced several dismounts, and despite the weather, it proved to require tremendous power and bike handling skills typically needed in ‘cross, with its steep climbs, drops, and off camber sections. However, with the weather and conditions not playing the x-factor in the races, the favorites prevailed in the weekend’s opening races, although in completely different fashions.
Arnaud Jouffroy Survives the Pressure of Slovakian Peter Sagan, Czech Lubomir Petrus to Take Junior Title
Like U23 superstar Niels Albert, Arnaud Jouffroy of France came into Saturday’s race as the favorite to win, having finished 6th last year at worlds as a first year junior. All those who beat him last year are no longer juniors, and were forced to race Albert in the Espoir race. But Jouffroy didn’t have it easy, faced stiff competition from the gun.
The Italian Domenico Salviani got a fast start and the hole shot, leading the other 62 riders, but a mechanical quickly sideline his chances, and instead of racing for gold he was racing to the pits. Six and half minutes later, he finally got his new bike, with the rest of the race over a half a lap ahead.
Junior Men, 2008 Cyclocross World Championships, Treviso, Italy. © Joe Sales / Cyclocross Magazine
Lubomir Petrus (CZE) put in a giant attack later on the first lap, with Marken Konwa (Pol) hanging on with the two coming through lap 1 in a time of 8:01. Jouffroy was stuck in traffic early on, and hit the steep run-up outside the top 20, but flew past riders in the coure’s straightaways, quickly moving up to third by the end of the first lap. Meanwhile, Luke Keough (USA), riding his first junior worlds race, was having an impressive ride, only 10 seconds back in the next chase group after the first lap.
As lap two began, Peter Sagan (Slovakia), joined forces with Jouffroy, just as Konwa suffered a mechanical and needed a bike swap but wasn’t close to the pit area. Just 13 minutes into the race, Sagan, Petrus, and Jouffroy formed the final trio that would fight for the medals. At the end of lap two, Petrus led Jouffroy by 10 seconds followed by Sagan another four seconds back.
Through lap 2, Petrus rode aggressively, with Jouffroy content to sit back initially, but later showed his strength on the climbs and pavement. Sagan trailed another five seconds back and was losing time, and appeared destined for bronze. Keough continued riding in the top 10, but his group lost another 20 seconds to the leaders on the second lap and was quickly out of contention for the medals.
Arnaud Jouffroy runs up the steep climb in attempt to gap Sagan and Petrus. Junior Men, 2008 Cyclocross World Championships, Treviso, Italy. © Joe Sales / Cyclocross Magazine
Jouffroy attacked Petrus several times on the penultimate lap, opening up temporary gaps that Petrus struggled to close, as he appeared to be paying the price from his early aggression. Sagan came through with two laps to go a whopping 12 seconds behind the leading group. Thirty minutes into the race, Jouffroy surged again, finding Petrus in trouble, while at the same time Sagan started to find his second wind and caught the struggling Czech rider. Coming through with one lap to go, the two were trailing by seven seconds and looked to be only racing for silver.
However, under the horsepower of Sagan, Jouffroy was reeled in and the top three hit the final steep climb together, with Petrus leading the runup, but running the slowest and falling back to third. The Frenchman surged again, but in a moment of inattention, got stuck behind a lapped rider, and Sagan attacked. His moment at the front was short-lived with a bobble in a turn, giving Jouffroy a chance to get by and quickly build a four second lead that he’d take into the finishing straight. Sagan didn’t give up, sprinting hard to close the distance, but ran out of room, but taking silver.
Arnaud Jouffroy holds off a sprinting Peter Sagan in the Junior Men’s race at the 2008 Cyclocross World Championships in Treviso, Italy. © Joe Sales / Cyclocross Magazine
Keough took an impressive 10th place, as the top American, finishing in the fourth group. Gavin Mannion finished in 32nd place, with Steve Fisher in 40th, Zach McDonald in 42nd, and Eric Emsky in 53rd.
Notes: The several sharp turns after downhills caused problems for many racers, as they were slippery and caused many riders to go down or bang against the course fencing. Crowds lined the course, but were thin compared to Belgian standards.
Update: The top two junior men would switch positions later in the year, with Peter Sagan winning the 2008 Mountain Bike World Championships in Val di Sole, Italy over Jouffroy.
Full results at the bottom.
Niels Albert Unbeatable in U23
Niels Albert (Bel) wasted no time demonstrating his dominance in today’s Espoir World Championships. The overwhelming favorite, Albert escaped a start-line pileup and hit the front of the race just 20 seconds after the start to set a blistering pace. His first lap time was just 7:01, almost a minute faster than the fastest lap times of the junior race. Lucas Kloucek (Cze) tried in vain to chase, but within a lap, Albert, who has won Elite races this year against the best, had a 10 second gap. Although his lap times slowed down, completing subsequent laps in 7:08, 7:18, and then 7:21, he continued to open up the gaps to the rest, with a comfortable 30 second gap just halfway into the race. Aurelien Duval (Fra), Kloucek, Jonathan Lopez (Fra), and Cristian Cominelli (ITA) were chasing but losing time, and quickly started looking at each other, settling for the race for second.
U23 Men, 2008 Cyclocross World Championships, Treviso, Italy won by Niels Albert. © Joe Sales / Cyclocross Magazine
With a lap to go, Lopez and Duval and teammate Clément Bourgoin (Fra), who joined the chase group, started to talk, planning their tactics to try to ensure they took at least the silver medal, and it seemed to work. Duval, through a late lap attack, gapped the rest for second, with Cominelli exciting the home crowd with a third place.
It was hard to tell who was more happy at the end. Albert raised his bike over his head in celebration, but Cominelli was clearly ecstatic with the bronze, pumping his fist and screaming with joy.
“I am very happy one of my dreams has come true. I had very, very, very good legs,” Albert said in the understatement of the day. “I wanted to show them I was the very best of the under 23.” It’s too bad spectators won’t see him in tomorrow’s Elite race. With his current form, he’s likely give any Elite a run for his money.
Jamey Driscoll was the top American, finishing in 34th, 3 minutes and 46 seconds back, but had to visit the pits to swap bikes early in the race. Nicholas Weighall, Chance Noble, and Carson Miller finished in 43rd, 44th, and 45th, respectively.
Notes: None of the top riders rode entire 26 percent grade climb. Most riders chose to run the entire length, but some rode most of the way up and then dismounted. Neither approach appeared to have a significant advantage. (In an earlier world cup race, the top 3 riders rode the climb and escaped for the remainder of the race as the rest of the pack got caught behind the fourth rider who had to dismount)
Full results below the photo gallery by Joe Sales.
2008 Cyclocross World Championships, Junior Men Full Results:
| Place | Rider | Country | Time |
| 1 | JOUFFROY Arnaud | FRA | 0:40:30 |
| 2 | SAGAN Peter | SVK | +00:01,14 |
| 3 | PETRUS Lubomir | CZE | +00:04,83 |
| 4 | SILVESTRI Elia | ITA | +00:54,53 |
| 5 | RUPP Matthias | SUI | +00:55,69 |
| 6 | GARSON Pierre | FRA | +01:07,13 |
| 7 | BODEN Stef | BEL | +01:08,27 |
| 8 | DE BIE Sean | BEL | +01:11,24 |
| 9 | CESSOT Jonathan | FRA | +01:11,53 |
| 10 | KEOUGH Luke | USA | +01:12,82 |
| 11 | COLEDAN Massimo | ITA | +01:18,40 |
| 12 | WINTERBERG Michael | SUI | +01:43,14 |
| 13 | HNIK Karel | CZE | +01:45,50 |
| 14 | KONWA Marek | POL | +01:47,81 |
| 15 | DIAS DOS SANTOS Vincent | LUX | +01:48,68 |
| 16 | EISING Tijmen | NED | +01:54,24 |
| 17 | GRAND Arnaud | SUI | +02:01,26 |
| 18 | SCHERZ Valentin | SUI | +02:02,03 |
| 19 | OCKELOEN Jasper | NED | +02:10,92 |
| 20 | BRAIDOT Luca | ITA | +02:18,33 |
| 21 | ADEL Filip | CZE | +02:20,73 |
| 22 | SCHLECHTER Pit | LUX | +02:26,52 |
| 23 | SZCZEPANIAK Kacper | POL | +02:32,75 |
| 24 | BARTKIEWICZ Andrzej | POL | +02:34,60 |
| 25 | ARU Fabio | ITA | +02:35,30 |
| 26 | MARVAN Petr | CZE | +02:39,93 |
| 27 | VAN DER HAAR Lars | NED | +02:52,33 |
| 28 | SCHWEIZER Michael | GER | +02:56,30 |
| 29 | WALSLEBEN Max | GER | +03:00,07 |
| 30 | SMIT Kevin | NED | +03:00,39 |
| 31 | BOSSUYT Matthias | BEL | +03:01,75 |
| 32 | MANNION Gavin | USA | +03:09,39 |
| 33 | HADOUX Valentin | FRA | +03:09,96 |
| 34 | BATCHELOR Sebastian | GBR | +03:14,93 |
| 35 | SAN EMETERIO GANDIAGA Fernando | ESP | +03:16,78 |
| 36 | BOSMANS Wietse | BEL | +03:17,28 |
| 37 | NAKAYAMA Kazuya | JPN | +03:18,28 |
| 38 | WILLIAMS Andrew | GBR | +03:24,80 |
| 39 | BRETSCHNEIDER Toni | GER | +03:26,59 |
| 40 | FISHER Steve | USA | +03:38,38 |
| 41 | DOMENE REYES Ramon | ESP | +03:38,81 |
| 42 | MC DONALD Zach | USA | +03:40,03 |
| 43 | KORETZKY Clement | FRA | +03:46,43 |
| 44 | MERINO CORTAZAR Igor | ESP | +03:51,92 |
| 45 | FRIML Jakub | CZE | +03:59,19 |
| 46 | VAN DER HORST Geert | NED | +04:04,14 |
| 47 | NADAL MAGRINYA Josep | ESP | +04:06,24 |
| 48 | GEETS Simon | BEL | +04:06,79 |
| 49 | LARSON David | CAN | +04:18,10 |
| 50 | GRADEK Kamil | POL | +04:32,82 |
| 51 | CREBER Hamish | GBR | +04:46,25 |
| 52 | GRAND Anthony | SUI | +05:11,65 |
| 53 | EMSKY Eric | USA | +05:49,27 |
| 54 | PATON Alex | GBR | +05:53,18 |
| 55 | GOMEZ ELORRIAGA Iñigo | ESP | +05:58,70 |
| 56 | MICHELY Max | LUX | +06:19,67 |
| 57 | STENBERG Patrik | SWE | +06:25,16 |
| 58 | RAJKOWSKI Bartosz | POL | +06:58,51 |
| 59 | SALVIANI Domenico maria | ITA | +08:57,07 |
| 60 | TAKAMIYA Masatsugu | JPN | -1LAP |
| 61 | PROZIRAI Viktor | UKR | -1LAP |
| 0 | RAUBER Josef | GER | DNF |
2008 Cyclocross World Championships, U23 Men Full Results:
| Place | Rider/Country | Time |
| 1 | Niels Albert (Belgium) | 51.11 |
| 2 | Aurelien Duval (France) | 0.38 |
| 3 | Cristian Cominelli (Italy) | 0.46 |
| 4 | Jonathan Lopez (France) | 0.47 |
| 5 | Clément Bourgoin (France) | 0.48 |
| 6 | Lukas Kloucek (Czech Republic) | 0.53 |
| 7 | Fabio Ursi (Italy) | 1.05 |
| 8 | Guillaume Perrot (France) | 1.31 |
| 9 | Paul Voss (Germany) | 1.39 |
| 10 | Ramon Sinkeldam (Netherlands) | s.t. |
| 11 | Thijs Van Amerongen (Netherlands) | s.t. |
| 12 | Jempy Drucker (Luxembourg) | 1.46 |
| 13 | Julien Pion (France) | 1.52 |
| 14 | Pawel Szczepaniak (Poland) | 1.55 |
| 15 | Ondrej Bambula (Czech Republic) | s.t. |
| 16 | Philipp Walsleben (Germany) | 1.57 |
| 17 | René Lang (Switzerland) | 1.58 |
| 18 | Tom Meeusen (Belgium) | s.t. |
| 19 | Quentin Bertholet (Belgium) | 2.01 |
| 20 | Ian Field (Great Britain) | 2.19 |
| 21 | Matteo Trentin (Italy) | 2.38 |
| 22 | Mitchell Huenders (Netherlands) | 2.42 |
| 23 | Gorka Izaguirre Insausti (Spain) | 2.45 |
| 24 | Yannick Tiedt (Germany) | 2.46 |
| 25 | Wim Leemans (Belgium) | 2.53 |
| 26 | Alessandro Calderan (Italy) | 2.58 |
| 27 | Robert Gavenda (Slovakia) | 3.17 |
| 28 | Julien Taramarcaz (Switzerland) | 3.18 |
| 29 | Ivar Hartogs (Netherlands) | 3.29 |
| 30 | Marcel Meisen (Germany) | 3.32 |
| 31 | Sylwester Janiszewski (Poland) | 3.39 |
| 32 | David Lozano Riba (Spain) | 3.40 |
| 33 | Marco Ponta (Italy) | 3.41 |
| 34 | James Driscoll (United States Of America) | 3.46 |
| 35 | Joeri Adams (Belgium) | 3.51 |
| 36 | Yu Takenouchi (Japan) | 3.52 |
| 37 | Mattias Nilsson (Sweden) | 3.54 |
| 38 | Ole Quast (Germany) | 3.56 |
| 39 | Jiri Polnicky (Czech Republic) | 4.00 |
| 40 | Boy Van Poppel (Netherlands) | 4.05 |
| 41 | Martin Haring (Slovakia) | 4.07 |
| 42 | Brian Robinson (Canada) | 4.18 |
| 43 | Nicholas Weighall (United States Of America) | 4.35 |
| 44 | Chance Noble (United States Of America) | 4.55 |
| 45 | Carson Miller (United States Of America) | 5.44 |
| 46 | Nico Brüngger (Switzerland) | 5.57 |
| 47 | David Menger (Czech Republic) | 6.06 |
| 48 | Mark Thwaites (Great Britain) | 6.18 |
| 49 | Mauro Gonzalez Fontan (Spain) | 7.15 |
| 50 | Kyle Douglas (Canada) | 7.27 |
| 51 | Guillaume Dessibourg (Switzerland) | 8.01 |
| 52 | Tomasz Repinski (Poland) | |
| 53 | Yudai Izawa (Japan) | |
| 54 | Shaun Adamson (Canada) | |
| 55 | Lucian Logigan (Romania) | |
| 56 | Yegor Dementyev (Ukraine) |
