Felt X3 Courchevel - Cédric Fleureton finishes like a plane!

On the runway of the Courchevel resort altiport, Cédric Fleureton from Lyon kept his title, winning ahead of Thibaut Baronian and Yoann Sert, leader on the cycling section.

At 45, he had tamed the Saulire to win the 2019 Felt X3. He did it again this Sunday, this time with an equally triumphant finish at the top of the Courchevel altiport. But this second consecutive win took a little longer to take shape than last season for the 2005 and 2006 European triathlon vice-champion.

On the ergometers, which replaced the swim in the Bozel lake to kick off proceedings, it was the rowers who, as expected, took the lead, notably Vincent Noirot, Benoit Baratin and Alexis Guérinot for the relays and the Savoyard Vincent Cavard in the Solo race.

But then the “local hero” Yoann Sert, often at the front in summer on Courchevel’s cycling hill climbs and also in winter in ski mountaineering efforts, took the lead ahead of Fleureton. Thibaut Baronian (31), twice winner of the Red Bull 400 in Courchevel (the climb of the Olympic ski jumps at Le Praz), was left on his own.

Fleureton: “An exceptional playground”

At the transition to the final trail run, Fleureton was there and took the lead. Sert let go, but Baronian, winner of the Ubaye trail 8 days earlier, came back to finally fall short by 50 seconds of the sprightly Lyon forty-something. “I once again cleared out my lungs. I suffered all the way, it was hard. I logically lacked rhythm, but it’s pure pleasure, in an exceptional playground. The opponent was really Thibaut (Baronian) on the run! I looked at the gaps, he wasn’t closing at the start and it ended well. I also think it’s great to change the formula with an original format. Even though I hadn’t done an ergometer in 30 years!” said Cédric Fleureton, always happy to win in Savoie.

Baronian: “I was a few hundred metres short”

“I tried not to go into the red on the rowing. I tried on the bike too to close the gap so I could give everything on the trail. I was a few hundred metres short, with a steep straight slope for the finish. But it was too tight,” said Baronian, who grew up in Haute-Savoie and is due to race the Skyrhune in Ascain in the Basque Country on 12 September before the 45 km of the Serre Ponçon trail (19 September). The podium was completed by a solid Yoann Sert.

For what comes next, spectators and followers, well masked in Courchevel, will be able to find Cédric Fleureton in Isère. “I had a dantesque programme for a sporting jubilee, but it all fell through with the lockdown. Never mind. Next week (23 August), I’m going to run the Swimrun des Grands Lacs de Laffrey near Grenoble, with my sweetheart. We share a bit of sport as a couple, it’s nice,” concluded the winner of the day.

Women: a joy for Laura Deplanche

The woman from Maurienne, on the podium 12 months ago, won the race ahead of Virginie Lemay, twice defending champion. A good point on the road to the French long-distance triathlon championship (end of September).

The women’s field was very strong and electric. So, naturally, on the final podium you find athletes from different backgrounds. It is a fine image for triathlon and a great satisfaction for the winner, Laura Deplanche. The ski mountaineering specialist, based in Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne, put in a flawless performance to take the win ahead of Virginie Lemay, winner in 2018 and 2019. A fine performance ahead of the big September deadline.

A top 5 or even better at the long-distance French championships?

“I had only been able to do the ergometer once this week (she came out 18th) but I knew I could make up the lost time on the bike. I gave everything to get to the trail, which was quite technical. I really liked it and was able to win. The finish? I hadn’t scouted it. When you see that last long uphill straight, it feels strange. It’s perfect preparation for the French long-distance triathlon championship, which will take place in Cagnes-sur-Mer at the end of September,” said the ESF instructor from La Toussuire, a member of the French ski mountaineering team, who will aim for a top 5 or even the podium in the Alpes-Maritimes.

Behind the Deplanche-Lemay duo, the fight to grab the last place was fierce.

After a final violent effort, the woman from the Jura Jézabel Kremer –French Spartan Race champion, on the podium at the Spartan in Palma de Mallorca in March and recent winner of the 33 km of the XTrail in … Courchevel– took third place a few seconds ahead of Christelle Zambon and Anne-Flore Mailland, who rang the bell in fourth and fifth place respectively.

Among the teams…

The trio Léo Baumel - Tristan Lipani – Florian Marsollier (AG2R La Timbale) won the trio event. Among the women, the Mi Events women’s trio made up of Marie-Camile Andry – Diane Teste – Marleen Verburgh scooped the prize. And in the mixed category, victory went to the Les P’tits Gones team with Ambre Mota – Sydney Combeas – Bastien Peres.

Gauthier Castaldi