Magaly Rochette (Specialized - Feedback Sport) found a major silver lining after the flooding postponed the national cyclocross championships in Canada, and instead rushed to the Besançon race to earn her first European Cyclocross World Cup podium.

Rochevich was the first rider to win the European cyclo-cross World Cup.

The race for the national title, which Rochette has won three times, was scheduled for the same weekend as the World Cup in France, so the Canadian was not expecting to race in Besançon.

"It has long been a dream (and goal) of mine to be on the podium at the European World Cup," Rochette said in his regular post-race newsletter. In fact, it took me 56 tries to finally get it. Fifty-six times I failed at my goal and had to try again. In those 56 races in Europe over the past five years, there have been a few good races (about 10-15 of them) where I felt I had reached my full potential, but most of them were poor races where I felt disappointed in myself."

"What has changed today with the No. 57 car is that nothing has changed at all. I think this is good news. I didn't feel that I was particularly stronger than usual, or that I had an alien mindset, or that my technique had suddenly improved. In fact, I even found myself getting off to a bad start and going super far in the first few minutes. During the race, I just stayed focused and rode the bike in a consistent way. I didn't get too caught up in my own condition, I stayed calm and collected. I didn't make too many mistakes... That's it. For me, this is great news. Sometimes normal is good enough, and normal is much more achievable than extraordinary. 7]

It may be Rochette's first time on the World Cup podium in Europe, but it's not the first time she's been on the podium in a top-level series; the 28-year-old won in Iowa City in 2019. The Pan-American cyclocross champion has also finished in the top 10 several times on the World Cup so far this season, including 10th in Tabor, 7th in Fayetteville, and 10th in Waterloo.

In Besançon, Rochette got off to a poor start, but quickly moved up in the opening laps and caught up with the Dutch challenger group early in the muddy race. With two laps to go, Rochette passed Fem Van Empel (Pauwels Sauzen Bingoel) and Puck Peeters (Alpecin Phoenix) to take third place. By the last lap, he had caught and passed Denise Betsema (Pauwels Sausen Bingor).

However, winner Lucinda Brand (Valoise Trek Lions) started early in the eighth round of the World Cup series and maintained a gap to the front until the end. But Rochette couldn't help but raise her hands in the air the moment she finished second. He was the first Dutchman to finish on the podium in Europe, and he had broken the streak of Dutch podium finishes in the past.

"Finally ...... Well, it took 56 tries, but I wouldn't change a single thing. I'm proud of the fact that we kept trying and it feels good to have a good result. It was worth it to keep trying," Rochette said.

"I will definitely continue to enjoy the feeling, but tomorrow I go back to work.

Two more North American riders rounded out the top 10, with U.S. champion Clara Honsinger (Cannondale/Cyclocrossworld) in seventh and her teammate, 20-year-old Katie Cruz, in ninth.