Cross -country skiing – Blink Festival. How the French team adapted its preparation after the failure of the Worlds

Thibaut, you will start this third internship on Tuesday. In addition, What were the main lines of preparation of the preparation until then?

“First take advantage of spring to rest. Consequently, then do the balance sheets and assess what we did well and badly last winter. In addition, We get out of a paradoxical season. Nevertheless, We had a very good physical level. Therefore, a dense and strong team; But Trondheim (the Worlds) was painful, because we could not win the expected medals. Consequently, It was important to question yourself, rest and find mental freshness cross -country skiing – blink before leaving for an Olympic year.

The collective recovery was done during a 22 -day internship in Tignes to make the altitude. Furthermore, take new information and new brands on an increasingly refined altitude strategy over the years. For example, It goes through two main axes: being beyond 2,000 meters, but for long courses that exceed two weeks. For example, »»

“It would have been obstinacy to say that it was simply the fault of no luck”

Precisely. Similarly, how did this long internship go?

“Really good. Consequently, We tried to dose the workout. Similarly, to find a cruising speed and a way of working to be even more effective, perhaps being more vigilant in what you do, less leaving yourself in a perpetual increase in all the cursors. For example, In fact, going to the ideal without losing the real. For example, Because last year, I cross -country skiing – blink think we did that going to the ideal. Consequently, »»

And you have chained with Prémanon.

“Yes, with this altitude, we found ourselves 15 days with different development windows. However, The altitude was made for endurance and the aerobic base. For example, In the 20 days that followed, we always have our aerobic base, but also with a higher level of intensity. Similarly, And now, head to Norway. Similarly, »»

You mentioned the Trondheim Worlds. What lessons did you learn for the Olympic Games (February 6-22)?

“I think we pushed all the sliders a little. It is very good to increase the level. to have an emulation, but perhaps we have lost a certain technical and mental freshness. The two are often linked. and we have surely missed it to have this little extra that makes you start success and that everything aligns. It is clear that cross -country skiing – blink everything was not aligned. and it would have been obstinacy to say that it was simply for lack of luck. »»

“We will seek adversity”

What are you going to look for in the upcoming internship in Norway?

“Already, leaving for three weeks allows us to spend long moments together. I have a team that lives well. but beyond that, it is a question of doing well together, and that too is a strong axis this year. And for that. we will also seek adversity, competition with in particular the Norwegians, where there is a very strong level of density. »»

And it starts with the Blink Festival from August 6 to 9.

“The blink offers four very different races. but each time, we will give ourselves a transversal goal that goes beyond performance. Spend time under tension. put watts that we would not put in cross -country skiing – blink training because when you put a bib, you can get further, stronger, better, with an environment that is more complex and more uncertain.

In the rise of Lysebotn, we want to work on time in taking, being good when it never recovers. The next day we will have the long that we will approach as a cycling team. We go there to make the peloton. hold the wheels as long as possible to be more efficient during the long of the toppi which is more interesting and important. Then we will have the Mass-Start in town with 15 laps of 1.5 km in platoon to work the placement. the ability to grasp the blows, to take the right options and to know how to read the race. And we will finish with the sprint with high speed. »»

The toppidrettsveka will then follow from August 22 to cross -country skiing – blink 24.

“She will close this period in Norway with four races in three days, and a general classification at the end. We will start with a very important long for the general. Then a skate sprint where we will focus on attitude and what we are going to set up. And on the last day, we will have two races in the city center. A ” Heat Mass-Start ‘(4 km) which should be set up for the ski tour. We will be able to test this format, see what works or not and make possible feedback to FIS. We will end with a classic pursuit in the city center. which is always quite impressive with difficulties, very fast descents.

To summarize. during this internship we will work at high speeds and put much more intentions and intensity than if we confined ourselves to stay in France on a development course. »»

Cross -country skiing – blink

“We are not to do what we want at the bottom of our wood”

Run on lots of different formats. we imagine that it is stimulating for athletes.

” Downright ! You always have to adapt, a bit like skiing. Sometimes there are hours that are forced, you have to put bibs, warm up … We don’t choose anything. And it is also interesting to have this discomfort of the competition. We are not to choose the moment when we want to be efficient. to do what we want at the bottom of our wood and to compare ourselves on the internet. There, we are in real life, in reality, with real high -level athletes opposite. And inevitably, it can only stimulate us. »»

After this gathering in Norway, what will be the continuation of the program?

“We will go cross -country skiing – blink back three weeks in Font-Romeu, for a mirror internship that we did in Tignes. We will resume time to develop, to get more information, further, stronger. After this internship, we will have a high performance/high speed time again with bibs.

In fact. I try that each period is useful for the next one, while keeping consistency in what we do, physical and mental freshness and the desire to create, to move forward. And that is really the DNA of the team.

But you also have to know how to say to yourself ” we are now working for the month of. February ”. Because the month that will count is February. We do not put the plow before the oxen. »»