10 March 2016

Pierra Menta Day Two

Another breathtaking day in the French Beaufort mountain region and another victory for Kilian Jornet – Mathéo Jacquemoud, Laetitia Roux – Axelle Mollaret. In the light of what we have seen in these two stages, the first place of the current cup leaders seems already assured, but with the Pierra never say never….

THE RACE:
The implacable Jornet – Jacquemoud duo seem to have the Pierra Menta firmly in the bag. Today they chalked up their second consecutive victory in the same number of days and have an advantage over their direct adversaries of nearly six minutes. The battle will be for second and third place, with the French pair Bon Mardion – Gachet slightly ahead of the Italians Boscacci – Antonioli. At present the top podium places remain the same as on the first day, albeit with smaller time gaps between the competing teams. In the women’s race, the Italian pair Katia Tomatis – Martina Valmassoi had an excellent race, finishing second in front of the Spanish team composed of Mireia Mirò – Claudia Galicia Cotrina.
 
MEN’S RACE:
Looking at the race results, it took the winners 2h21’55 to complete the 2,500m uphill course which included a total of 4 climbs; the French pair were second with a time of 2h24’00” while the Italian team, made up of Antonioli – Boscacci, came third with a time of 2h24’33”. Alexis Sevennec and Didier Blanc took fourth place, followed by Leo Viret e Valentin Favre, Jakob Herrmann - Martin Weisskopf, Florent Perrier - Stefano Stradelli, Filippo Beccari - Federico Nicolini, Steven Blanc - Aurelien Dunand-pallaz e Nil - Oriol Cardona Coll.
 
WOMEN’S RACE:
No surprises here - once again Laetitia Roux and Axelle Mollaret dominated the race, with a time of 3h03’27”. With an overall lead of 21’45” over their nearest rivals. Practically an abyss. The exploit of the Italian duo Katia Tomatis - Martina Valmassoi is worthy of note: they were second over the line (3h11’26”)today ahead of the Spanish team Mireia Mirò and Claudia Galicia Cotrina (3h13’01”).
 
AND NOW IT’S THE TURN OF THE JUNIORS & CADETS:
Tomorrow the 31st edition of the Pierra Menta really takes off, with the start of the junior and cadet competitions. A race within a race and all the atmosphere of a great classic for the present and future of European ski mountaineering...