Livia Lancelot is more than just a pretty face; with insane dirt bike skills and a great attitude the twenty four year old wonder lady from Paris, France, is revolutionizing women’s motocross. With a dazzling list of achievements that most people could only dream of, the ex FIM Women’s Motocross World Champion is arguably the most recognized female in motocross today, accumulating over twenty one thousand followers on Facebook and a further five thousand on twitter.
What is remarkable about this talented young lady is nothing is impossible, earlier in the year Lancelot lined up against the best men in the world with hopes to qualify for the FIM MX2 World Championship in countries where men are still the more dominant sex. Without a doubt she blew the public away, not only was she a girl competing in a sport that is stereo typically “for boys” but she was laying down lap times faster than their nations best male riders.
Moving on, Lancelot was planning to race and better her result at the world renowned X-Games in America (where she was previously a two times bronze medallist), it was also expected that she would line up at round one of the FIM Women’s Motocross World Championship in The Netherlands, but much to the disappointment of her fans and supporters she was compelled to withdraw from both. Meanwhile in France Lancelot was dominating the French Championship, taking home thirteen from thirteen wins before being burdened with an unlucky injury that would sideline her for the rest of the season.
After many big events this year including the announcement that the FIM Women’s Motocross World Championship will be returning to the pits of the MXGP and MX2 World Championships in 2014, we caught up with Livia to discuss all things exciting about the past, present and future..
Question: I bet racing in Qatar and Thailand was a great experience for you, can you tell us what it was like being the only female on the line?
Livia Lancelot: Yeah, it was a great experience for me and I was proud to be behind the gate. Youthstream and the FIM gave me a good opportunity to show those two countries that girls can ride a dirt bike.
Q: Yeah, you definitely did that. I heard you were planning to do round one of the FIM WMX world championship in Valkenswaard, The Netherlands, but withdrew at the last minute, why was that?
Lancelot: Yes, it was planned in the beginning but I already do a lot of races during the year. I did le Touquet sand race this winter, which is hard physically, then I accepted the invitation for Qatar/Thailand so I had to make time to recover.
Q: Rumour has it; you crashed at a round of the French championship, what happened?
Lancelot: Actually I didn’t crash when I broke my ACL ligament in my knee; a girl didn’t keep her line during the start, she took my front wheel and my foot touched the ground pretty hard and at speed.
Q: Does this mean no X-Games?
Lancelot: Yes, unfortunately it means no riding before November.
Q: How is the recovery going? When will you be back on the bike?
Lancelot: The recovery is going good. I have a good medical team behind me, they really take care of everything and all is going well. I will be back on the track before the end of the year and normally I should be 100% for le Touquet which is my first main goal.
Q: How do you feel about the WMX calendar for 2014?
Lancelot: It’s really good for the girls; racing with MXGP is the best way to get media coverage and attract sponsors. I saw that there is not too many rounds and most of the rounds will be in the biggest European countries, so it’s really good news.
Q: Now the WMX is back with the MX1 and MX2 classes in 2014, do you plan to do the entire championship?
Lancelot: I don’t know yet. You know I’m also racing the X-Games now, so I hope that there is not an event on the same date.
Q: Ok, so if you were to compete in the WMX, what would your expectations be?
Lancelot: The last three WMX GP’s that I did, I won them. I won also the first ever Women’s Motocross of European Nations in France this year, ahead of Chiara Fontanesi who is dominating the WMX, so for sure I will try to win. I also know that doing motocross, supercross, sand racing and enduro cross will be difficult to be the best in every class, but I will give my best!
Q: Who do you think will be your biggest rival?
Lancelot: Nobody has beaten Chiara Fontanesi this year in the WMX, so she will be for sure a tough rival in motocross. In Enduro cross it is Laia Sanz and Vicky Golden in Supercross. But really I just race against myself.
Q: Have you thought about life after motocross as a racer? What are you ambitions?
Lancelot: Yeah sure, I’m the manager of my own team and I train young girls. I hope that when I retire one of them will fight for a podium at the WMX World Championship. While I am injured I give motocross lessons and I stay in contact with most of my sponsors. So, I guess that after racing I will still be around the track…
Thanks for the chat Livia! All the best with your recovery and we look forward to seeing you back on the track!