Forossier, Poor win XTERRA Switzerland

Press Release / 24.06.2018

Arthur Forissier from France and Brigitta Poor from Hungary were both victorious and captured the 9th edition of XTERRA Switzerland, in a very exciting race in the beautiful Vallé de Joux in the Canton de Vaud

Here, XTERRA European director and former XTERRA World Champion Nicolas Lebrun tells us how the day unfolded in Switzerland...

This is the third victory here for Arthur. He had his first win here in 2015 in a major XTERRA, then the following year he ended up in hospital during the ETU European Championship, due to a 34° body temperature on a cold and rainy day. But last year he came back to win again. With perfect conditions just like today in front of Ruben, proving he can be one of  the best XTERRA athlete's in Europe and soon I think in the world.

He exited the Brenet lake in 10th position, some 1'40 back from today's and the usual swim leader, Roger Serrano. "I had a really fast swim, faster than usual and I managed to be in a very good position after exiting the water" said Forissier.

However, Arthur was in a perfect position as he made his way up and was soon to be with his team mate Arthur Serrieres too. Meanwhile, Marchello Ugazio was few seconds in front and Theo Dupras, another Team Tvert Team mate was few seconds behind. So this was the perfect group to try to work together to try and catch the Spaniard who was alone out in the front, especially when you have the advantage of 3 very strong members of the same team. But the race will not always be like we would predict.  After one lap on this quite flat and very fast MTB bike loop, Roger was still leading with about 45 seconds. "I was feeling very good on the swim and tried to pace myself. On the bike I knew I had legs but the French guys behind me were working together trying to catch me" said Serrano.

At this stage though, the chasing group behind was only composed of 3 athletes, Marcello Ugazio, Arthur Forissier, and of course, Theo Dupras. Arthur Serrieres had dropped off the pace a little, and was not with them, but in another group more than a minute behind - perhaps not completely recovered from his big crash in Belgium two weeks ago. Meanwhile, Xavier Dafflon, who was also contesting the Swiss National Championship race, had already lost a little less than 5' on Roger, but was having a fantastic bike leg, to put in the fastest bike split of the day.

With the prospect of the run leg fast approaching, at the end of the bike, Roger was still leading, but had lost a few more seconds to the chasing trio. As he exited the second transition, the time gap had come down sufficiently enough to have Forissier and Theo only 35'' behind at this very exciting stage of the race.

Unfortunately Ugazio, who was now holding onto 4th position, was not able to follow their speed on the technical part that was near the end of the second bike loop and was now trailing about 1' behind. On exiting T2, Dafflon started the run in 5th place, but was still comfortably leading the Swiss National Championship. But things were about to change drastically at the front of the race.

After the first run loop around the lake, Forissier had already passed Roger, and was running very strong. "As he passed me, I could see that it was in no doubt that he would put in the fastest run split of the day and by almost one minute!" said Lebrun

XTERRA Switzerland Elite Men
Pos     Name, Country     Time     Points
1     Arthur Forissier, FRA     2:10:56     75
2     Roger Serrano, ESP     2:12:47     67
3     Marcello Ugazio, ITA     2:13:00     61
4     Arthur Serrieres , FRA     2:16:06     56
5     Theo Dupras, FRA     2:16:16     51
6     Xavier Dafflon, SUI     2:17:04     47
7     Peter Lehmann, GER     2:18:57     43
8     Pierrick Page, FRA     2:19:11     39
9     Jan Kubicek, CZE     2:19:26     36
10     Emanuele Aru, ITA     2:21:21     33
11     Corentin Duclos, FRA     2:22:13     30
12     Rui Dolores, POR     2:22:44     27
13     Tim Van Daele, BEL     2:23:06     25
14     Maxim Danon, FRA     2:28:32     23
15     Doug Hall, GBR     2:32:05     21

However, Roger who had been so strong up until the run, explained to us at the finish that he had a small foot injury earlier in the week. This unfortunately meant that he had back off the gas to reduce the impact on his foot, but miraculously held onto a brilliant 2nd place. Ugazio, the Italian who put in a fabulous second fastest run split,  finished a fine 3rd. "I am very satisfied with my performance today. This is my 3rd podium at XTERRA races this season. I had one of my best runs today and I am so happy finishing 3rd" said Ugazio.

Dupras had another hard time on the second loop of the run, slipped back to 5th, as Serrieres passed him. Dafflon eventually crossed the finish line to finish 6th, but was super happy with the title of Swiss National Champion.

Women's race

For the women's race, just as for the men, it was very close competition right through to the end. Despite a below average swim, Nicole Walters was first out of the water as usual.  Brigitta being less than one minute behind showed that she was feeling good and was hopeful of a good day. Carina who has had some brilliant swim leg's this year was quite far back. Unfortunately she got kicked quite hard on the face by a passing age grouper and this was very painful to her head. But after a little time to recover on the bike leg from the bash to her face, she started to move back up the field to try to regain her lost time. Then third out of the water was Diane Luethi from Switzerland, she too was in search of the Swiss National Championship title. Helena Karaskova, whom was one of the favorites, lost a whole 4 minutes.

After the first bike loop Nicole was still leading with Brigitta right behind. "Knowing the course, the athletes condition, I was sure that we would see a great competition between these two women today, and they didn't disappoint us at all" said Lebrun.

However, Carina was still in the game, not far back and making great progress despite her bad experience in the swim. Helena worked super hard to come back on the bike, and in the process, produced the best bike split of the day!. Angela Niklaus was very strong on the bike and had overtaken Diane Luethi, to move into the lead of the Swiss National Championship. Unfortunately, Morgane Riou had a bad crash and was not able to sustain a high intensity anymore. By this time her head had dropped and her drive to reproduce a top result as before, had sadly gone.
Approaching T2, and finishing the 27 km MTB loop, Brigitta was back in the lead with Nicole very close and on her shoulder. So now at long last after so much previous bad luck at this race, the hungarian was in a fabulous position to take the win as she is such a strong runner.

"It's my 5th or 6th time at XTERRA Switzerland, but this race never went well for me. I was always disappointed but this time everything was perfect from the start to the finish. I am very happy with my win here today" said Poor.

XTERRA Switzerland Elite Women
Pos     Name, NAT     Time     Points
1     Brigitta Poor, HUN     2:34:34     75
2     Nicole Walters, GBR     2:35:51     67
3     Carina Wasle, AUT     2:36:40     61
4     Helena Karaskova CZE     2:37:00     56
5     Loanne Duvoisin, SUI     2:38:13     51
6     Morgane Riou, FRA     2:41:11     47
7     Isabelle Ferrer, FRA     2:41:47     43
8     Angela Niklaus, SUI     2:42:19     39
9     Ladina Buss, SUI     2:44:58     36
10     Diane Luethi, SUI     2:49:46     33
11     Ania Tomica, POL     2:57:27     30

But the threat could still come from behind, as Carina was less than 1'30'' down. But maybe her head was still not right, as her normally very fast run just wasn't going to happen today, and on the 2nd loop she faded to concede a very creditable 3rd place indeed.

But she has continued her fantastic string of results, and has had 6 podium places out of 6 races! Brigitta took her 4th race of the season after Malta, Cyprus and Portugal. Nicole finish a well creditatable second, with her excellent fifth podium out of 6 races. "I had a really good swim today but had a crash early on the bike. I managed to stay calm and put myself together. I had a really good ride after that and also a very good run, so overall I am very pleased with my race today" said Walters

Helena battled on, with a disappointing run to take 4th place. Then young Loanne Duvoisin stormed through the field with the best run split of the day, and with this she did a fantastic race performance to clinch the Swiss National Championship title and 5th place on the day. Morgane Riou came 6th today, which was excellent given her bad crash, but is sure to bounce back to previous performance in races to come.  

Euro Tour Standings

With this second place Serrano is now back leading the Tour with a healthy 273 points from Francois Carloni on 229. Ugazio, moved up to 7th position on the tour with 189 points. For the women Carina is still on top with 384 points. Nicole in second with 378, then just behind in third is Brigitta with 356. Then a little further back, we have Helena with 259, Morgane Riou, 229 and Maud Goldsteyn on 154. The only real big mover today was Diane Luethi, who's 10th place today took her up from 8th to 10th.

Men XTERRA Euro Tour after 7th races
Pos     Name, Country     Total     MLT     CYP     GRC     ITA-G     PRT     BEL     CHE
1     Roger Serrano, ESP     273     75     75     56     DNS     DNS     DNS     67
2     Francois Carloni, FRA     229     56     DNS     51     47     DNS     75     DNS
3     Arthur Forissier, FRA     217     DNS     DNS     75     67     DNS     DNS     75
4     Peter Lehmann, GER     212     33     DNS     39     30     67     DNS     43
5     Xavier Dafflon, SUI     193     DNS     DNS     43     56     DNS     47     47
6     Arthur Serrieres , FRA     192     DNS     DNS     61     75     DNS     DNF     56
7     Marcello Ugazio, ITA     189     DNS     DNS     67     61     DNS     DNS     61
8     Maxim Chane, FRA     168     51     67     23     27     DNS     DNP     DNS
9     Rui Dolores, POR     154     36     DNS     DNP     DNS     61     30     27
10     Geert Lauryssen, BEL     151     47     DNS     DNS     43     DNS     61     DNS
11     Victor Morales, ESP     128     67     61     DNS     DNS     DNS     DNS     DNS
12     Anthony Pannier, FRA     114     DNS     47     DNS     DNS     DNS     67     DNS
13     Doug Hall, GBR     111     39     51     DNP     DNS     DNS     DNS     21
14     Theo Dupras, FRA     107     DNS     DNS     DNS     DNS     DNS     56     51
15     Tim Van Daele, BEL     106     DNP     DNS     30     DNS     51     DNF     25
16     Yeray Luxem, BEL     94     DNS     DNS     DNS     DNS     43     51     DNS
17     Jan Kubicek, CZE     92     DNS     56     DNS     DNP     DNS     DNS     36
18     Clement Briere, FRA     85     25     33     27     DNP     DNS     DNP     DNS
19     Veit Hoelne, GER     79     43     DNS     DNS     DNP     DNS     36     DNS
20     Francesco Figini, ITA     78     DNS     DNS     DNS     39     DNS     39     DNS
 
Women XTERRA Euro Tour after 7th races
Pos     Name, Country     Total     MLT     CYP     GRC     ITA-G     PRT     BEL     CHE
1     Carina Wasle, AUT     384     67     DNS     61     67     67     61     61
2     Nicole Walters, GBR     378     47     61     75     61     DNS     67     67
3     Brigitta Poor, HUN     356     75     75     56     DNS     75     DNS     75
4     Helena Karaskova-Erbenova, CZE     259     61     DNS     67     75     DNS     DNS     56
5     Morgane Riou, FRA     229     56     DNS     51     DNS     DNS     75     47
6     Maud Golsteyn, NED     154     51     DNS     47     DNS     DNS     56     DNS
7     Cecilia Jessen, SWE     128     39     56     33     DNS     DNS     DNS     DNS
8     Diane Luethi, SUI     119     43     DNS     DNS     43     DNS     DNS     33
9     Jessica Roberts, GBR     107     DNS     DNS     30     30     DNS     47     DNS
10     Sandra Mairhofer, ITA     99     DNS     DNS     43     56     DNS     DNS     DNS
11     Ania Tomica, POL     81     DNS     51     DNS     DNF     DNS     DNS     30
12     Diane Lee, GBR     78     DNS     DNS     DNS     27     DNS     51     DNS
13     Ine Couckuyt, BEL     75     36     DNS     39     DNS     DNS     DNS     DNS
14     Barbara Riveros, CHL     67     DNS     67     DNS     DNS     DNS     DNS     DNS
15     Eva Garcia Gonzalez, ESP     61     DNS     DNS     DNS     DNS     61     DNS     DNS
16     Aina Picas, ESP     56     DNS     DNS     DNS     DNS     56     DNS     DNS
17     Bianca Morvillo, ITA     51     DNS     DNS     DNS     51     DNS     DNS     DNS
17     Mariana Brugger, BRA     51     DNS     DNS     DNS     DNS     51     DNS     DNS
17     Loanne Duvoisin, SU