It’s show-time on the XTERRA European Tour as stop No. 9 heads to the Vosges Mountains in eastern France where more than 2,000 racers, huge crowds, fan-friendly features like a monster wooden ramp, big-screen TVs, and an incredibly talented ensemble of elite athletes gather for one of the toughest challenges in XTERRA.

Sunday’s 11th annual XTERRA France Championship in Xonrupt, which combines a one-mile swim with a grueling 41-kilometer mountain bike loop and lung-busting 10k trail run, is truly one of the marquee events on the World Tour.

“It’s a great show from start to finish,” explained XTERRA World Tour managing director Dave Nicholas.  “The swim start is total chaos and huge fun.  It is a water start with the entire field treading water, then the horn goes off and it looks like an old B Movie with a thousand Piranha’s chasing a meal.”

Things get even wilder once competitors jump on their bikes.

“The bike is brutal with 600-meters of climbing each lap.  Tired, exhausted riders and runners return to the compound and are fed from the sounds and smells, the applause and cheers of the crowd and ready to do their second lap.  The fantastic wood ramps the crew builds at the main compound have been moved farther from the lake to allow spectators to come inside the ramps.  Riders will literally circle all around the spectators going over wood moguls and steeply banked turns. All this enhanced by a great sound system, music and enthusiastic announcers.”

And the crowd will have plenty of big names to cheer for on Sunday including a match-up between two of the masters of the sport, XTERRA World Champions Ruben Ruzafa and Josiah Middaugh.

“This year again the pro field will be strong, especially for the men with our guest star Josiah Middaugh from Colorado,” said XTERRA European Tour director Nicolas Lebrun.  “Josiah picked this race because of all the things he has heard about it, and to challenge himself against the best of the best on the European Tour so he has an idea of what to expect in Maui.”

The men’s elite field features 40 racers from 16 countries including the top five ranked men on the Euro Tour (Ruzafa, Francois Carloni, Xavier Dafflon, Yeray Luxem, and Rui Dolores), the current Asia-Pacific Tour leader Sam Osborne, last week’s XTERRA Switzerland Champ Arthur Forissier, and XTERRA Philippines Champ Bradley Weiss.

“Ruben was not 100% in Switzerland nor in Belgium, so after Forissier’s victory last week now we know he can be beat,” said Lebrun.  “I will watch particularly Bradley Weiss. Last week before he flatted he was the only one able to follow Ruben on the bike.  Also, Dafflon, who had the best bike in Belgium, is looking forward to this long mountain bike loop in France so he has time to catch everybody on the bike.

We will also have our eye on the Russian Pavel Andreev, our 5-time winter triathlon world champion and XTERRA Finland winner; Carloni who was 3rd here two years ago and is second in the rankings, Jens Roth, third in Greece this year and our fastest swimmer, and of course Yeray Luxem, Cyprus winner, will be here and has been on the podium at this race.”

2017 Rank – Name, NAT

1 – Ruben Ruzafa, ESP

2 – François Carloni, FRA

3 – Xavier Dafflon, SUI

4 – Yeray Luxem, BEL

5 – Rui, Dolores, POR

7 – Arthur Forissier, FRA

8 – Jan Kubicek, CZE

10 – Arthur Serrieres, FRA

14 – Xavier Jové, ESP

15 – Jens Roth, GER

16 – Hannes Wolpert, GER

17 – Maxim Chané, FRA

20 – Tiago Maia, POR

21 – Geert Lauryssen, BEL

22 – Pavel Andreev, RUS

24 – Sam Osborne, NZL

25 – Mark Hamersma, NED

26 – Stephan Radeck, GER

28 – Doug Hall, GBR

29 – Llewellyn Holmes, GBR

30 – Anthony Pannier, FRA

31 – Peter Lehmann, GER

33 – Bradley Weiss, RSA

34 – Tim Van Daele, BEL

35 – Jorg Scheiderbauer, GER

40 – Clément Briere, FRA

41 – Pau Botella Tarres, ESP

42 – Mattia de Paoli, ITA

45 – Dominik Wychera, AUT

48 – Guillaume Jeannin, FRA

NR – Josiah      Middaugh, USA

NR – Damien Guillemet, FRA

NR – Christophe Betard, FRA

NR – Loïc Doubey, FRA

NR – Valentin Genewe, FRA

NR – Grégory Manca, FRA

NR – Felix Schumann, GER

NR – Henry Sleight, GBR

NR – Michael Szymoniuk, AUT

The women’s field returns five of the top six elites from last year’s race here, minus only the defending champ Lesley Paterson.  Of special interest is the duel between tour leaders Brigitta Poor (422 points) and Helena Erbenova (406 points).  Each have three wins this year.  Brigitta got the best of Helena to win XTERRA Malta and Portugal.  Erbenova finished ahead of Poor to capture the XTERRA Greece and Spain titles.

Here, Lebrun gives us his take on the women’s race…

“Myriam Guillot-Boisset will be my favorite, she was 4th in Maui and second in Vallée de Joux last week in a short race,” said Lebrun.  “In France, she will have way more time to come back.  Helena had a terrible day in Switzerland and I’m sure she saved some energy for France when she realized it was not her day last weekend. Nicole Walters will probably lead the race for a long time again like she did last week, and maybe she can get enough time to stay in the front all the way.  She was very aggressive on the bike last week and for sure will arrive in Xonrupt full of confidence. Our Tour leader Brigitta Poor will be here to get more points and like Helena she wants to forget her bad Swiss race. Carina Wasle was not strong last week either, but will like the XTERRA France climbs. Renata Bucher was second here last year and will race again.  I am not sure if she had the time to train enough, but on a good day, knowing perfectly this race, she can maybe fight for the top five.  Kathrin Mueller started slow in Malta but was way better in Spain, so might be ready for a podium here, and she knows how to do it as she already won this race. We will have our first look at German Laura Philipp coming from road triathlon.  She has already won 70.3 Mallorca, St Polten and Kraichgau this year, if she can ride a MTB they might never see her.”

2017 Rank – Name, NAT

1 – Brigitta Poor, HUN

2 – Helena Erbenova, CZE

5 – Carina Wasle, AUT

7 – Nicole Walters, GBR

14 – Myriam Guillot-Boisset, FRA

15 – Kathrin Müeller, GER

22 – Kristina Nec Lapinova,SVK

25 – Renata Bucher, SUI

27 – Jessie Roberts, GBR

28 – Angela Niklaus, SUI

NR – Laura Philipp, GER

NR – Anna Tomica, POL

NR – Lyzzie Orchard, NZL

NR – Belinda Hadden, AUS

Follow XTERRA Europe on Facebook at www.facebook.com/xterraeurope for all the latest updates and coverage on race day.

All-Time XTERRA France Elite Winners Year Men’s Champ Women’s Champ Site 2006 Cedric Fleureton Renata Bucher Saint Raphael 2008 Nicolas Lebrun Renata Bucher Auron 2008 Nicolas Lebrun Renata Bucher Mondelieu 2010 Nicolas Lebrun Marion Lorblanchet Xonrupt 2011 Victor Del Corral Renata Bucher Xonrupt 2012 Asa Shaw Helena Erbenova Xonrupt 2013 Nicolas Lebrun Helena Erbenova Xonrupt 2014 Ruben Ruzafa Kathrin Mueller Xonrupt 2015 Ruben Ruzafa Kathrin Mueller Xonrupt 2016 Ruben Ruzafa Lesley Paterson Xonrupt

 

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