The European Cyclo-cross Championships start this week! 22 Czechs will compete on the track in Pont-Château

France hosts the European Cyclo-cross Championships from Friday to Sunday 5 November. The Czech Republic will be represented with 22 athletes in all categories except for the elite women. Kristýna Zemanová, the bronze medallist from the last World Championships, will also take part in the race.

The track in Pont-Château in the west of France will be the centre of the European Cyclo-Cross Championships for the third time in history. Riders also know the circuit well from the World Cup series, with the last event held here in 2019.

This year’s championships will kick off on Friday, November 3, with a team relay race. The Czech team is also expected to compete. The weekend will then belong to the individual races of juniors, triple jumpers and elite categories.

Czech medal hopes

At the last European Championships, which took place last year in Namur, Belgium, the biggest success of the Czech representatives was the 7th place of Michael Boros in the elite men’s category, 8th place of Kristýna Zemanová among women under 23 and 6th place of Eliska Hanakova in the junior women’s category.

Zemanová, the current leader of the Toi Toi Cup series, is the biggest medal hope of the Czech team at this year’s championship. The 20-year-old bronze medallist from the World Championships in Hoogerheide in February will again compete in the women’s U23 event.

“I would definitely love to fight for a medal, but I don’t want to put too much pressure on myself. I believe I will do a very good performance and we will see what it will be enough for in the end in the huge competition,” Zemanová told the Czech Cycling Federation website.

In the men’s elite category, two Czech representatives Michael Boroš and Jakub Říman will be present. The elite women’s category will remain, as last year, without the participation of Czech women.

Matyáš Fiala, Václav Ježek, Patrik Černý, Ondřej Novotný, Maximilián Kerl and Jakub Kuba will take part in Saturday’s race of the triplets. Kateřina Hladíková and Barbora Jeřábková will wear the Czech jerseys in the women’s U23 competition alongside the aforementioned Zemanová.

Amálie Gottwaldová, Kateřina Douděrová, Daniela Hezinová, Anna Panušová and Hanka Viková will compete in the junior women’s competition. In the juniors category Patrik Lienert, Kryštof Bažant, Tomáš Hájek, Jan Janout, Pavel Šumpík and Tomáš Kraus will compete.

Complete programme of the European Cyclo-cross Championships 2023

Source: Czech Cycling Federation