Ruzafa, Mueller Win XTERRA France

Trey Garman / 06.07.2015

Three-time and reigning XTERRA World Champion Ruben Ruzafa of Spain and reigning XTERRA European Tour Champion Kathrin Mueller from Germany captured the XTERRA France Championship for the second straight year this afternoon in Xonrupt.

The win is Ruzafa's 12th in a row since winning the World title in 2013 and for Mueller, her eighth victory in the last 10 races she competed at on the XTERRA European Tour since the start of last year.

In the men’s race Ruzafa was dominant once again.  He was among the leaders on the swim, jumped into the front on the bike early-on, posted the fastest bike split by more than five minutes and cruised to victory in 3:18:08, more than five minutes ahead of South African Bradley Weiss. “I had no problems, no cramps, no mechanicals,” said Ruzafa. “But it was a long race and very hot."

In the womens race Mueller led from start to finish for another impressive performance in France. "The first 8K of the bike is tough, but then the next is all great biking - so much fun" said Mueller, who took the tape in 3:55:21, more than three-minutes ahead of Erbenova.

Erbenova, who won at XTERRA Greece and Spain last month, said "I finally had a good swim but could not get any speed on the first bike lap.  It was so hot but my legs were OK.  I knew the girls were chasing me, but I was able to keep them away."

XTERRA managing director said “It was a great event, a super show with big screens, great music, a fabulous announcer, and huge crowd.  Organizers put in an additional water station on the run - they had a woman spraying down riders as they were about 2K from the finish of 1st or 2d lap.  Everyone seemed to enjoy reversing the course (on the bike) and said it was more fun for sure.”

Pro Results

Men     
Pl     Name     Time     Points
1     Ruben Ruzafa, ESP     3:18:08     100
2     Bradley Weiss, RSA     3:23:20     90
3     Francois Carloni, FRA     3:24:54     82
4     Arthur Forissier, FRA     3:28:14     75
5     Malte Plappert, GER     3:31:21     69
6     Damien Guillemet, FRA     3:38:33     63
7     Damien Derobert, FRA     3:39:02     58
8     Tomas Jiranek, CZE     3:39:11     53
9     Henry Sleight, GBR     3:40:53     49
10     Florian Luquet, FRA     3:41:13     45

Also: Marc Pschebizin (41), Veit Honle (37), Martial Schmidt (34), Felix Schumann (31), Sebastian Veith (28), Jon Heasman, Maxime Boudot, Kevin Grieten
    
Women     
Pl     Name     Time     Points
1     Kathrin Mueller, GER     3:55:21     100
2     Helena Erbenova, CZE     3:58:45     90
3     Myriam Guillot, FRA      4:00:14     82
4     Coralie Redelsperger, FRA     4:04:48     75
5     Sandra Koblmueller, AUT     4:07:46     69
6     Brigitta Poor, HU     4:09:43     63
7     Becci Kaltenmeier, GER     4:10:12     58
8     Morgane Riou, FRA     4:11:01     53
9     Celine Augueux, FRA     4:18:11     49
10     Jessica Roberts, GBR     4:20:21     45

Also: Lenka Cibulkova (41), Louise Fox (37)