Stage 7B – Val Cenis – Lanslevillard

Stage 7B – Val Cenis – Lanslevillard présentée par EDF

The mushers of the Royal Canin Trophy started this morning for a 7 km loop at the Col du Mont Cenis after spending the night in a bivouac at the Polar Base. They then joined the teams of La Grande Odyssée VVF in Lanslevillard to take the start of stage 7b “Val Cenis – Lanslevillard” presented by EDF at 5:30 pm.

The day started early for the Royal Canin Trophy teams. After a night in a bivouac for the mushers and their dogs, they took the start at 10am on the exceptional and iconic track on the edge of the Mont Cenis Lake. A light blizzard and hard, fast snow allowed the purebred Nordic dogs to be in their element. This loop was not timed and therefore did not count towards the Royal Canin Trophy ranking. The second part of the day started in ideal conditions. After a small snowfall before stage 7b “Val Cenis – Lanslevillard” presented by EDF which allowed to put some white on the track, the cold came back during the stage. Temperatures dropped by 1°C to 2°C every hour from 4pm, which made the track hard and very fast. A new atmosphere was created for the mushers, who had covered the Chemin du Petit Bonheur and the plateau of Bessans during the day in the previous stages. At night, alone in the wilderness with only their headlamps, the mushers were really able to take over the trail in a new way. For the first time since the beginning of the race in the OPEN category, Sissel WOLF MOLMEN (NOR.) climbs on the first step of the podium. She is followed by her compatriot Hans Lindahl. The Frenchman Rémy Coste closes the podium. However, he still leads the overall ranking in the OPEN category. In the LIMITED category, the podium is entirely French. Aurélie Delattre confirms her first place and takes the lead in the general ranking. Thibault Cayroche achieves his best performance by reaching the 2nd place. Cindy Duport climbs on the last step of the podium. This day also marked the end of the Royal Canin Trophy. For the stage of the day, Jérôme Serres (FRA.) finishes 1st, followed by the Italians Emanuele Scarioni (2nd) and Lisa Bonato (3rd). In the general ranking, Jérôme Serres wins the Royal Canin Trophy. The Italian Lisa Bonato finishes 2nd, his compatriot Claudio De Ferrari finishes on the third step of the podium.
As stage 7 was divided into two parts, the Wamine Dog Care chasuble was not awarded again for this second day. The Norwegian Sissel Wolf Molmen is the holder of it. She got it because of the very good nursing and the quick recovery of her dogs who had digestive problems caused by the change of temperature between Norway and France.

Tomorrow, Monday January 16th, the mushers will start the stage 8 “Pralognan-la-Vanoise” presented by Aésio Mutuelle at 5:15 pm. They will meet again for the penultimate stage in Savoy. La Grande Odyssée VVF village will be set up from 2:00 pm to 7:00 pm at the Chamois campsite in Pralognan-la-Vanoise.