Loris is cruising ahead in the Junior World Championship standings

The youngster from France is quietly inching to his first world championship. Talented and confident, it was only a matter of time before « Lolo » reaches his real level. Slowed by a big knee injury last year, he is now back in shape and came back swinging this year. We decided to give him a call to have his take on his latest victory in Sweden and how he sees the end of the championship.

Hi Loris. Congrats on your victory in Sweden ! Are you still over there ?
Thanks, i appreciate. I am back home since monday evening.

You won by a wide margin as i understood. Was it an easy victory ?
No, not at all. I had a lot of pressure all race long. I didn't have much a big overall lead before this race over Alexz Wigg, so we can say there was pressure. The TRW people shadowed me all day long. The team boss was there at each sectio, as was Lenzi. It was quite a stressful environment, but i managed to do my race. Until this race, the plan was to go ahead of Wigg and not look back. This time, we took our time and followed him through the sections. I guess he had added pressure as he made tons of mistakes in the first lap. I did well in this first lap, and all i had to do was maintaining my lead in the second. It worked perfectly.

You were known to crack under pressure before. Those times are over ?
I guess we can say that. I sure hope so. Before, i was sometimes kind of hothead. Not, i take my time to calm down and that's how i won this race. It is maybe the first i deal so well with so much pressure. It gives me a lot of confidence for the rest of the season.

Was it a nice race, sections-wise ?
There were three or four difficults sections, and the others were fairly easy, so you had to really focus on the difficults ones to avoid making costly mistakes. But the site is great, they could have done all the section difficults! And i also rode saturday for the European championship, so it gave me more time in the sections for sunday. It was a wise move.

Two races left in the championship. Things looks good, right ?
Sure, but i have to stay very careful. With the X-2 rule, i only have a 12 points lead. That's ok, but nothing is done until it's done. I am taking race by race. If i win the next race, then i will start to think championship. But first, i have to win the Portugal round !

Portugal and Spain are still to come. Do those soils suit your riding style ?
I don't know, i never rode in any of those countries. But i don't see why it wouldn't go right. And i will be surrounded by Marc Soulas and Thierry Michaud, so i will have a strong team around me. It's gonna be ok.

Who was your minder in Sweden ?
Fred Bochet. It went very well with him, very smoothly. He is an easy going person and he was a talented rider, so he knows what it takes to win a race and to deal with pressure. He brought me a lot.

The final round of the French championship takes place this week-end. What can you hope there, as you're only in third place with a big deficit to make for?
First, i feel really sorry for my friend Jérome Béthune who broke his wrist and arm. With Jérome here, i had a bigger chance to clinch the title. (Ed note : Béthune was second in the points chase, and the leader Bruand have to be 4^th at best for Gubian to have a shot at the title.) With Jérome out, i don't see how Christophe Bruand can do worse than third place. Anyway, all i want to do is win the last race, and we'll go from there. And if i don't have this title this year, i'll take it next year !

Ok, thanks for the time, see you soon.
Thank you, see you !

Words by Richard Angot, picture by Sherco