It was a weary group of teams who lined up for today’s start in the village of Lozzi below Monte Cinto.  It was a smaller group too as 6 teams withdrew in last night’s trail runs and some had not had made it to the restart.  A couple were late arriving too, which was not surprising as the slower teams had had no sleep at all, only finishing the run in time to pack up and move to the restart.

 

Their challenge today was to climb Monte Cinto, the highest peak on the island at 2706m, on bikes and on foot.  The first 1000m of climbing were made on their bikes on a rough 4x4 track which climbed up in a series of switchbacks.  Quechua, who had been waiting on the start line first in the morning, managed to stay ahead of rivals Vibram Lafuma, who are still wearing the leaders yellow bibs, and who have the advantage of knowing they need only stay close to Quechua to protect that lead.  (They had finished the night runs side by side, though the pair from GMPA Raid just managed to edge of them.)

 

It was an overcast morning so the climb was not too hot, but cloud hung over the summit persistently through the morning and teams didn’t enjoy the panoramic views from the top that they might otherwise have done.   To get there they left their bikes at a ruined hut at the end of the 4x4 trail and set off on foot, quickly reaching the Refuge de l‘Ecro, a new hut set in a valley at 1605m where there was a mandatory checkpoint.  There was a bit of confusion as the marshal was not there in time, but the teams pushed on, now climbing more steeply onto the upper part of the mountain and moving up into the cloud.

 

Their route was a circuit, taking them up a path to the summit then along a more difficult ridge and steeply down across loose and rocky ground to reach Lac du Cinto, from where they could descend back down the valley to get back to the hut. One team who spent longer up there than expected were the Czech Opvanet team.  Their female runner was affected by tachycardia (raised heart rate) and had to stop and rest for 45 minutes before being able to continue.  As a result they were timed out of one of the mountain bike rides at the end of the day, but they did complete the course. 

 

The Race Director thought that maybe the lead would change on Monte Cinto, knowing what a strong team Quechua are on the mountain, but it didn’t.  The two teams came down, still side by side and went through transition together.  This was a ‘timed out’ transition, which Quechua seemed unhappy about – I guess each transition is a chance for them to try and gain a minute or two, and with the clock stopped that chance was gone.