Today, yes, we had the good day of flying that we were all looking forward to. Today the teams marked 3 waypoints: 2-Vall d’Azun, 3-Boi-Taull, 4-Monte Perdido.
As soon as the time opened, Gabriel Jansen started to cover the hour he had until take-off and at 8:05 he took off from La Couraduque (Val d’Azun) and made a glide to the valley, then had to kick over the mountains towards Cauterets.
Meanwhile, Shane took off from Soum de Berdocou, near Couraduque and made the turnpoint in flight and then caught it on foot.
Later, on their next flight, they would be the first to reach the 2,500m that marked the break in the inversion layer.
Behind, Simon Oberrauner and Pierre Rémy flew very fast, and took advantage of all the south faces before the Val d’Azun mark, to mark the waypoint in flight and practically caught up with those in front of them and joined them at Luz St Saveur.
This was the moment when the local pilot, Pierre, got stuck and Simon got away from him.
In front Shane Tigue led the whole race followed by Gabriel Jansen.
Simon also overtook Gabe who got stuck near Sant Lary Soulan.
On the other hand, Lars Meerstetter was also remarkable. Lars opted for the southern route, but perhaps he did it too early in the morning and lost a lot of flight time, because by the time he took off, most of the pilots had overtaken him. He has had to do a lot of walking to cross the mountains.
There were some very good ceilings and the route from Bareges, the one between the Pic du Midi de Bigorre (a waypoint on several occasions in the X-Pyr) to Saint Lary Soulan, worked well in flight.
He did very well, but he was overtaken by the other pilots.In the end, his efforts were not rewarded as expected.
We have seen many fantastic flights, but we could highlight one, due to the atypical nature of the route. The flight of Benoit Brunet-Poirier, from Pierre St Martin, crossing to the waypoint and then almost to Cauterets, is remarkable and very interesting.
Many riders have finally managed to reach the longed-for south face of the Pyrenees, and a new race is being prepared for the next few days. Tackling the waypoint
Facing the waypoint at Vall de Núria
Simon Oberrauner is now in the lead, almost tied with Shane Tighe. But with many riders on the lookout.
We start a new race on the 26th!
On the negative side, we note the withdrawal of several riders.
A very emblematic one, Maxime Pinot.
But we also have withdrawals of rookies this year, such as Darío Dandeu and Lucas Toledo. All due to various physical problems related to knees or feet.