The 18th edition of La Grande Odyssée Savoie Mont Blanc continues in Bessans, Nordic land located at 1750m of altitude to arrive in Bonneval-sur-arc classified as the most beautiful village in France, but also the highest village of the Haute Maurienne Vanoise.
It is under very good conditions that the 20 teams approached this mythical stage: the Mass-start. Under an exceptional atmosphere, the mushers left in two waves and covered nearly 44km with 580m of positive difference in altitude. The opportunity for them to discover the unavoidable hamlets of the Haute Maurienne Vanoise valley: Trièves, Ecot or Villaron. This stage requires power on the first 10 kilometers and endurance throughout the course.
In the Open category, the German Heinrich Winter climbs on the first step of the podium with a time of 1:39:09 and dethrones his great rival Rémy Coste who finishes in 1:45:55 followed very closely by the German Detlef Oyen who completes his course in 1:46:43. The French Rémy Coste keeps the first place in the general classification. In the Limited category, the same three women remain in first place with the French Aurélie Delattre who finished in 1:44:54 and remains the leader of her category. Cindy Duport continues her success by climbing on the 2nd step of the podium with a time of 1:58:59. Elsa Borgey, as for her, finishes in 3rd place, and completes her course in 2:03:21.
This morning, the Odyssée des Espoirs took place, a new event of this 18th edition. A dozen of young people from the hope pole of the French Federation of Sled Sports ran a 11km loop on the same course as our professional mushers. The first place is won by Elena Barrachin in 00:27:27 followed by Aymeric Desbree who finishes in 00:35:15. Shaïny Pignon finishes with a time of 00:35:32.
The “Best Nordic Région Auvergne Rhône-Alpes” chasuble was awarded to Jean Combazard in the Open category and to Grégory Coffre in the Limited category. The “Wamine Dog Care” prize was won by Rémy Coste who invested a lot of time in preparing his dogs before and after the race.
Rendezvous for the 9th stage in Aussois presented by Tomojo, Monday January 17th 2022! New mushers will also start on the last three stages of the race for the Aésio Trophy.
