The 2025 French National Championships | Compiegne
Written by Damien Ethalon
Photo’s by Kaptur Photography. See shots from the French National Championships HERE
The 2025 French National Championships | Compiegne
Written by Damien Ethalon
Photo’s by Kaptur Photography. See shots from the French National Championships HERE
After an amazing French Cup season, the summer’s big championships, and the end of the UCI World Cup, it was time for the best riders to fight for the blue, white and red sleeve!
Compiegne’s supercross track was chosen for the 2025 National Championship. The track looked great but unfortunately once again the weather was disastrous! Because of a forecast storm hitting France at the weekend, the French federation had to cancel time trials and move the Junior, U23 and Elite races on Friday instead of Saturday.
Friday was wet but the wind was manageable … we saw some great races!
On the Elite Women’s side, it was all about Axelle Etienne. She dominated the whole day and easily claimed another National title. Lea Brindjonc picked up a strong second place, with Mathilde Doudoux back on the podium with a third. No big surprise here, the favorites did the job. Behind these three we had Celia Bonnet in fourth and Manon Valentino, still in the game, with a fifth. Charlotte Morot tried the outside gate pick strategy but had to settle for sixth, while Emma Patraccone unfortunately had a very bad gate and finished seventh. Finally, we had Naelle Michaud, made it to the main and finished in eighth.
Despite the absence of Daudet, Mahieu and Clerte the Elite Men’s class was stacked as always! Both World #1 Arthur Pilard and European champ Mathis Ragot Richard looked impressive during first laps, but in the wet racing conditions … anything could happen.
In the end it was Leo Garoyan who surprised everybody with a perfect first straight and clean lap! A well-deserved first Elite tittle for Leo who had a rough season but will be wearing the French sleeve in 2026. Théo Thouin came just a little bit short in the first jump and had to settle for silver. Still his best result to date and he shows he is constantly in the top level now. The bronze medal went Simba Darnand who stayed under the radar all day long but delivered a great lap on his home track right when it counted! Big disappointment for the three favorites, Mathis Ragot Richard, Arthur Pilard, and of course, Sylvain Andre, who finished fourth, fifth, and sixth. They all could have won but the conditions left everything open to surprises, and that’s exactly what happened. Chris Aldon also confirms he is part of the big guys now with seventh place, followed by Nathanael Dieuaide who also rode amazingly and reached the main.
A quick word on the younger classes … after a devastating World Championships where she crashed on the last jump and lost her third place, Lola De Oliveira was up for revenge here, on her home track. She made it clear and totally dominated the field as she was the only junior girl jumping the huge double in the middle of the first straight! A well-deserved first-time national title.
The Junior Men’s final was absolutely amazing! World champion Evan Oliviera and vice World Champion, Clement Rocherieux were in another league! Oliviera had the holeshot but Rocherieux came back, they went through the pro section elbow to elbow, had contact midair and Rocherieux passed on the outside to grab the win! We can’t wait to see these two amazing riders racing Elite next year!
With W3 Marie Favrel breaking her leg during the euro cup in Benatky, the U23 women class was very undecided. In the end it’s Elisa Lance, always very efficient on the supercross format, who seized the opportunity and dominated the main event. A perfect ending before stepping up to the Elite class next year!
One jersey was missing in Alexis Pieczanowsky’s collection … it was the national one! Now he has it! After winning the European Championships last year and of course the World Championships this year, he finished the U23 game with a nice win here in Compiegne, just in front of Pierre Geisse who was really closed the whole lap but had to settle for second!
The 2025 French season is now in the history books. Next year we will have four French Cup weekends (two on a supercross hill), and the National Championships will happen in Besançon next July.
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