Michelle Flipo of Mexico won her second straight title and Arthur Forissier of France won for the second time in three years at the 8th annual XTERRA Switzerland in the Vallee de Joux.
Flipo had to come from behind to pass swim and bike leader Nicole Walter of Great Britain, but her final task was to beat runner-up Myriam Guillot-Boisset of France by 3 minutes 4 seconds, due in large part to a 5:17 advantage on the swim.
Forissier also ended three-time XTERRA World champion Ruben Ruzafa of Spain’s five-race win streak in XTERRA major events by a 15-seconds margin – the Spaniard’s career wins record is now 28 of 35 XTERRA majors.
Pro Women
Nicole Walter of France surprised usual XTERRA swim dominator Flipo, emerging from the water in 23:51 with a 1 second advantage on her Mexican rival, 1:50 ahead of Brigitta Poor of Hungary, 3:05 ahead of Carina Wasle of Austria, 3:06 ahead of Morgane Riou of France, 5:18 ahead of Myriam Guillot-Boisset of France, and 5:51 ahead of multiple time XTERRA European champ Helena Erbenova of the Czech Republic.
Erbenova did make up 13 seconds on Guillot-Boisset and 24 seconds on Walters, but she was too far back to contend on the run. So Walters’ 3rd-best 1:14:36 mountain bike split gave her a 1:34 lead on Flipo and more on the rest of the field. After the first of two laps on the 10 kilometer trail run, Flipo passed Walters on her way to a women’s-best 49:12 trail run that brought her to the finish in 2:31:13 with a 3:04 lead on Guillot-Boisset (2nd-best 49:29 run), 4:13 on 3rd-place Morgane Riou of France (3rd-fastest 50:03 run) and 4:39 on Walters, who fell to 4th with a 55:28 run.
"I was surprised we could not catch Nicole [on the bike leg],” Flipo told XTERRA media. “I passed her on the run and then started feeling like I had a migraine. Things were getting a bit blurry and this is usually the first sign. But it never got too bad and I just held my pace to the end."
After her slow swim and excellent bike, Guillot-Boisset started the run in 7th place and passed Wasle, Walters and Riou on her way to the runner-up slot. “I had no idea of my shape this morning, so I started with no stress,” Guillot-Boisset told XTERRA media. “I thought I had a good swim exiting the water, but after seeing my split it really wasn't. Still, I was in front of Helena, so [it was] a place I'm used to being. I built slowly on the bike, and had no idea of my position, just focusing on my sensation and myself. Starting the run, I was still 7th and thought this is not very good, but I didn't know most of the girls weren't too far away, and slowly I started to pass one, two, and get back on the podium.”
Pro Men
Hannes Wolpert led the men’s swim wave with a 21:47 time, 1 second ahead of Kiwi Sam Osborne, 51 seconds on Francois Carloni of France and Ruben Ruzafa of Spain, 52 seconds on Arthur Serrieres of France, and 1:30 on Forissier.
After 5k of the mountain bike leg, Osborne led by 51 seconds on Carloni and a little more on Ruzafa and Bradley Weiss.
After a small loop at the far end of the course, Ruzafa took the lead by a few feet over Osborne and Weiss in 3rd. Shortly thereafter, Weiss took the lead but had to retire after puncturing a tire.
After a gap, Ruzafa and Osborne were followed by Serrieres, Wolpert, and Anthony Pannier. Swiss star mountain biker Zavier Dafflon trailed by 6 minutes after a large deficit on the swim.
On the second lap of the action-packed bike leg, Ruzafa had a solid lead, followed by Osborne and Forissier, but was weakening. “I had a bad stomach last week," Ruzafa told XTERRA media. “I did not get a lot of training between my last event so I was worried about these guys.”
Forissier passed Osborne, and then closed on Ruzafa arriving at T2.
"I had the perfect race," said Forissier. "It was tough, though, and on the run every time I looked back Ruben was there and getting closer."
Ruzafa may have been weakening, but he never quit. “I thought I would stay close in case he got tired, but he never did," Ruzafa said with a smile.
After a 15 seconds margin of victory, Forissier recalled several points of the race that were crucial to his win. “I swam as fast as possible knowing it would be the key today, and totally killed my arms," said Forissier. "I started the bike not afraid to be alone as I knew many athletes would start fast trying to follow Ruben and will pay for that on the second loop, and that is what happened. I was 7th after one loop and 2nd at the end of the bike. On the run, I saw Ruben not going so fast so I started as fast as possible to catch him quick, but at the end I really struggled to finish. I ran out of energy and my mind took over.”
XTERRA Switzerland
Vallee de Joux, Switzerland
June 24, 2017
S 1.5k / MTB 23k / TR 10k
Pro Women
1. Michelle Flipo (MEX) 2:31:13
2. Myriam Guillot-Boisset (FRA) 2:34:17
3. Morgane Riou (FRA) 2:35:26
4. Nicole Walters (GBR) 2:35:52
5. Carina Wasle (AUT) 2:37:18
6. Brigitta Poor (HUN) 2:37:36
7. Maud Golsteyn (NED) 2:38:59
8. Helena Erbenova (CZE) 2:40:11
9. Isabelle Ferrer (FRA) 2:40:49
10. Ladina Buss (SUI) 2:41:28
Pro Men
1. Arthur Forissier (FRA) 2:10:43
2. Ruben Ruzafa (ESP) 2:10:58
3. Arthur Serrieres (FRA) 2:13:02
4. Sam Osborne (NZL) 2:13:36
5. Xavier Dafflon (SUI) 2:15:55
6. Francois Carloni (FRA) 2:16:35
7. Anthony Pannier (FRA) 2:17:32
8. Theo Dupras (FRA) 2:19:17
9. Tiago Maia (POR) 2:19:45
10. Clement Briere (FRA) 2:20:40
