By André Santos
Roxane Lacroix has been improving her overall ranking season after season. During Season XI, with the new Team Décathlon Expérience’s support, she managed to get some of her best results and finished the Champion competition in 7th place.
We talked to her to learn more about her achievements and how Team Décathlon Expérience’s first season was.
Season XI didn’t start as Roxane expected, finishing above 10th place in races like La Diagonela, Toblach-Cortina, and Vasaloppet, but then the last races were successful. Roxane finished the season proud and clear-headed.
“I felt I was part of the leading group and that I really could enjoy the races,” says Roxane.
Roxane ended Season XI in 7th place in the Champion competition, 8th in the Sprint competition, 12th in the Climb competition, 10th in Visma Alp Trophy, and 5th in Visma Nordic Trophy.
Despite having some great moments during the season, Roxane feels that the best ones were Marcialonga, where she finished 8th and 100 km Årefjällsloppet where she finished 5th. At Årefjällsloppet, she felt in such a good physical and mental shape that the kilometers passed much faster than she expected. Something that may have helped is the beauty of the Swedish landscape and the atmosphere of the race.
“It’s satisfying to see that hard work pays off,” says Roxane.
Roxane has changed some aspects of her training and feels happy that it worked.
“I changed some things but continued using the same type of work. The changes were just enough to break the routine and still enjoying training by testing new things.”
About the future, Roxane wishes that the following season will be as good as the one that has just finished.
“I want to feel strong and to be able to stay ahead of the peloton while still enjoying the races!”
Season XI has also been a successful season for her new team. Team Décathlon Expérience finished 9th in the Pro Team competition and had some very good performances. Besides Roxane also Alexis Jeannerod, and the Youth-guys Theo Deswaziere and Antoine Auger showed strength.
“It was challenging to build a team in “corona time.” It was not always easy, but we did it. Athletes and staff in the team are united, we work all together, and that is our strength,” says Roxane.
When the season is over, Roxane is relaxing at home because due to Covid-19 restrictions in France, she must stay in a 10 km circle around her home. She is relishing her rest and doing things that can’t be done during the season. And while Roxane enjoys her rest, she also thinks about what changes she should make to take steps next season.
“I haven’t decided about it yet, but some things need to change, so I continue to improve!”
