John Gadret (AG2R La Mondiale) is riding a far quieter cyclocross season this winter as he looks ahead to his big road targets in 2013. The former two-time French national champion has ridden just three races so far, finishing on the podium each time, but has no further ambition to ride the more prestigious events in Belgium.
At AG2R La Mondiale’s first team get together in the ski resort of Montgenèvre, in the French Alps, Gadret sat down with the team’s coaching staff to discuss his aims for the next road season.
"I’ve good results since the beginning of the [cyclocross] season but I haven’t ridden any of the rounds of the World Cup!” he said. “After discussion with [team manager] Vincent Lavenu and [directeur sportif] Julien Jurdie, I decided to compete in cyclocross primarily to please myself this year, the goal is to arrive at the road races as fresh as possible.”
In all three of his races so far, Gadret has been beaten by Francis Mourey (FDJ-BigMat), with the current French champion also riding in many of the big Belgian races. Mourey finished third, behind Sven Nys (Landbouwkrediet-Euphony) and Niels Albert (BKCP-Powerplus) in last Saturday’s Koksijde World Cup race - and hopes to do even better in Roubaix this coming Sunday - but Gadret is happy to continue at the lower level this year.
“I’ve had a good time, and I have some results, so all is well,” he said. “I race next at the final round of the Challenge National, in Pontchâteau. Next will be the Championship of France where I hope to make the podium, or take the jersey, which would be even more beautiful!”