For Cameron Mason, the Flamanville World Cup will go down in history as his first-ever podium finish in a World Cup race, but the British champion wasn't very satisfied with his race afterwards. According to Mason, there was more to be gained in Flamanville. "I can do better," he believes.
At the start of the race, it didn’t look like Mason would fight for a podium spot at all. He missed the start. "I slipped off my pedal and had to catch up, but I quickly moved back up to around fifteenth position. I had some problems along the way and actually felt pretty awful throughout the race."
"After that, I found my rhythm, but big gaps had already formed," Mason reflected. That was also the phase when he managed to join the lead group with riders like Thibau Nys, Joris Nieuwenhuis, and Lars van der Haar. The Belgian champion was able to create a gap when Nieuwenhuis had bad luck, after which Mason had to chase. "I caught up within 5 or 6 seconds, but I was at my limit and he rode at his own pace. Then it became tactical. It is what it is."
In the final laps, only the win mattered to Mason. "I went all in and didn't think about losing my second or third place. I know this is a strong performance, but I can do better. I'll look at what conclusions I can draw from this. But I don't want to lie: there’s more to come. I'm one mistake away from playing a leading role," he hinted, referring to winning a major cyclo-cross race.
Two weeks ago, Mason was already close to a big win but ended up second behind Nys in the X2O Badkamers Trophy in Hamme. Even then, he spoke about his dream of winning a prominent cyclo-cross event.
