The French Grand Prix season got underway yesterday in Fréjus with a pair of electric Sprint distance races. The reigning team champions Poissy Triathlon and Saint-Jean-des-Monts Vendée Triathlon arrived looking to set an early marker for their title defences while the race also set the stage for the first clash of 2024 between Olympic medallists Alex Yee and Hayden Wilde.
Women’s race
Picking up where she left off from last season, Lea Marchal (Issy Triathlon) was the fastest woman in the water, completing the 750m in 10:34. Her teammate, Celia Merle, was the next woman out a second back.
Early on in the bike, a small pack of five women came together at the front. Joining Marchal and Merle was Anne Holm, giving Issy three women at the front in a perfect start to the race. Zsanett Bragmayer (Metz Triathlon) and Candice Denizot (Poissy Triathlon) were the other two to make it to the escape group.
Jessica Fullagar had lost 10 seconds to Marchal in the water but soon made up the ground on the bike, converting the lead pack into a group of six. Fullagar repeatedly drove the pace on the front and tried to escape – as she managed to do in Fréjus last year – but the pack was equal to her efforts. The British athlete would nonetheless claim the fastest bike split of the day in 27:42. Most importantly, while Fullagar did not get away, the leaders built an advantage of over a minute to the chase pack.
From the main group, Sandra Dodet (Poissy Triathlon) was hunting a third straight win in Fréjus while Alberte Kjaer Pedersen (Tri Val de Gray) was another prominent threat. As the run started, though, they had their work cut out.
Up ahead, the leading six split into two as Denizot, Fullagar and Bragmayer pulled away. Throughout the 5km, the three leaders stuck together and tried to time their sprint finish.
Having shut the door on Dodet and Pedersen, the lead trio settled the matter in a final sprint in which Fullagar out-kicked Denizot by the narrowest of margins. Bragmayer then took 3rd place a few seconds later.
Holm held on for 4th place with a strong all-round display while Dodet rounded out the top-5 with the fastest run split of the day (15:28).
In the team classification, Poissy took the win after putting two women in the top-5; Lea Coninx also took 11th place for the team. Issy were 2nd overall after Merle (7th) and Maria Casals Mojica (15th) ably assisted Holm while Val de Gray completed the podium as Pedersen (6th) and Appoline Foltz (19th) combined forces with Fullagar. Issy and Val de Gray actually scored the same number of points (which are taken by finishing positions). As Issy had the best third finisher, they took 2nd overall.
Men’s race
The men’s race got off to a rapid start as the leading faces duelled for supremacy in the Mediterannean waves. Léo Ouabdesselam (Saint-Jean-de-Monts Vendée Triathlon) led the way at the end of the 750m in a time of 9:04 and ran into T1 with Aurélien Raphaël (Poissy Triathlon), Yanis Seguin and Chase McQueen (both Triathlon Club Liévin) on his shoulders.
The lead quartet held onto a narrow lead for the first lap of the bike but the pack behind lurked ominously. The men’s race in Fréjus had attracted a stellar line-up with four WTCS race winners present. Alex Yee (Valence Triathlon), Hayden Wilde (Triathlon Club Liévin), Pierre Le Corre (Les Sables Vendée Triathlon) and Tim Hellwig (Triathlon Club Liévin) all lost between 8 and 23 seconds to Ouabdesselam (Hellwig fared the best while Le Corre fared the worst) but they soon made up for lost time.
A group of twenty athletes made it to the front on the second lap of the bike. While Hellwig, Wilde and Yee were at the front, Le Corre surprisingly missed the lead group. Moreover, on the team note, Nathan Grayel did not make it into the lead pack in a blow to the defending champions, Saint-Jean-de-Monts Vendée Triathlon.
As Fullagar did in the women’s race, Wilde buzzed around the front of the bike and tried to take charge on multiple occasions. However, in a sign that his bad luck of 2023 has not entirely abated, Wilde would later suffer a puncture at the end of the bike. As a result, he was forced to run into T2 with his bike on his shoulder and sacrificed around 20 seconds to the leaders.
At the front, Yee did not need a second invitation to exploit the situation. The British athlete ran into the lead and never looked likely to relinquish it. By the end of a smooth 5km, he claimed the win by 14 seconds. It represented a first win of the season and, with another rather important race to come in France for Yee later in the season, it may be a precursor of something even bigger.
Wilde managed to rally and passed his teammate Hellwig to take 2nd place. He also logged the fastest run of the day (13:26) which came a week removed from logging a 5km personal best on the track. Hellwig secured 3rd place and Seguin held on to take 4th, handing Liévin the team win.
Maxime Hueber Moosbrugger (Metz Triathlon) managed to pip Louis Vitiello (Saint-Jean-de-Monts Vendée Triathlon) and Lasse Lührs (Valence Triathlon) to take 5th place.
Valence Triathlon claimed 2nd place overall as Jack Willis (16th) joined Yee and Lührs. Les Sables Vendée Triathlon were then the 3rd team overall, although surprisingly Le Corre was not among their scorers. Noah Servais (10th), Gaspard Tharreau (13th) and Jeremy Quindos (15th) combined to secure the team’s spot on the podium. It should be noted, though, that Le Corre had the third fastest run of the day despite being out of the main action.
View the full results here.
