Today, Valmorel, the first resort at the entrance of the Tarentaise Valley, hosted the start of the 5th stage of La Grande Odyssée Savoie Mont Blanc presented by the Caisse d’Epargne Rhône-Alpes. The mushers of the Open and Limited categories but also of the Eukanuba Trophy started on a 27 km course with a positive difference in altitude of 1,220m in the direction of Doucy, place of the nightly arrivals.
It is a beautiful alpine stage that our mushers have realized, starting with a 3km climb to arrive on a more open space. The teams went towards the crests with a breathtaking view on the Mont-Blanc, the Lauzière and the Beaufortain to arrive in Doucy and make a loop before crossing the finish line in the late afternoon. The weather conditions were once again great with sunshine and a large number of people cheering the mushers.
In the Open category, the French Rémy Coste won the day’s stage in 1:17:47, but the German Silvia Ulrich, very fit, took only 1’20” more than him to complete the course, that is 1:19:07. The German Heinrich Winter finished in 3rd place, with a time of 1:20:31. In the Limited category, Frenchwoman Aurélie Delattre confirmed her first position by winning the stage once again, with a time of 1:26:48, ahead of her great rival Cindy Duport who finished 47 seconds later at 1:27:35. Aurélie Delattre remains in first place overall. The Frenchwoman Elsa Borgey finished in third place in 1:44:35. In the Eukanuba Trophy, Spanish Carlos Franch finished the stage in 1:36:41, confirming his place in the overall classification.
The “Wamine dog Care”, a chasuble given to the musher who has done a good deed for his dogs, was awarded to Sissel Wolf Mølmen. The “Best Nordic Region Auvergne Rhône-Alpes” chasuble was given to Romain Da Fonseca for the Open category and Grégory Coffre for the Limited category.
Tomorrow will also be the last qualifying round for the IFSS (International Federation of Sleddog Sports) World Cup.
See you on Friday, January 14, for the start of the 6th and final leg of the Eukanuba Trophy in Peisey-Vallandry.