Daubord, Wasle win XTERRA Tahiti

Press Release / 01.06.2019

Brice Daubord from France and Carina Wasle from Austria captured the fifth annual XTERRA Tahiti off-road triathlon elite titles on the beautiful island of Moorea on Friday, May 31, 2019.
 
It's the second career XTERRA World Tour win for Daubord, whose first came four years ago in Tahiti, and the 23rd in the illustrious 15-year career for Wasle, the reigning XTERRA European Tour Champion, who won her first XTERRA race back in 2005.
 
In the men's elite race Daubord and Maxim Chane were first out of the water with Cedric Fleureton and Arthur Serrieres not far behind.  Chane pushed ahead to an early lead on the mud-soaked tropical bike course until the mud clogged his tires and chains and forced him to stop.
 
In what turned out to be the tactical decision of the day, Daubord had rubbed massage oil all around his tires and chain before the race in anticipation of the muddy conditions, and it worked pretty good. "It was a good choice," said Daubord. "I still had to stop and remove mud, but I think my bike and chain held up better than the rest.  It was very slippery out there, and the whole time I was worried about Cedric and Arthur behind me because they are such good runners."
 
Daubord was able to take a big lead into the run and savor the adventure of the day.  His winning time was 2:52:41, more than six-minutes ahead of Fleureton. "It's not easy to win an XTERRA, and it doesn't happen very often so I'm really very excited to win today," said Daubord, who will enjoy a few extra days to rest and recover and play tourist around the island with his girlfriend.
 
Fleureton, who placed 5th at XTERRA Worlds in 2017 the last time he raced off-road, moved into the second spot during the first lap of the bike and stayed there the rest of the way. "The race today was very good," said Fleureton. "This place is extraordinary.  The nature here is incredible.  And the race was such an adventure, it's why I love the sport."
 
Fleureton added that his 17-year-old son, who has discovered mountain biking and triathlon, has re-ignited his passion for racing and he looks forward to taking him to XTERRA Worlds in Maui with him this year.
 
Arthur Serrieres, who won XTERRA Greece last month and was second at XTERRA Italy-Lake Garda last week, passed Chane on the run to finish in third, and will head back to Europe to race at XTERRA Belgium next weekend. "Two races in a row and one next week, I have a big program this year," said Serrieres.  "My day was quite good, but I had trouble on the bike because it was so muddy it was hard to continue riding.  Still, the course was beautiful, and this is XTERRA, Mother Nature is like that."
 
Chane held on for fourth place, followed by Yen-Ching Chiang – Taiwan's fastest off-roader, in fifth.

Elite Men's Results
Pos     Name, NAT     Time     Points
1     Brice Daubord, FRA     2:52:41     75
2     Cedric Fleureton, FRA     2:59:05     67
3     Arthur Serrieres, FRA     3:05:29     61
4     Maxim Chane, FRA     3:06:43     56
5     Yen-Ching Chiang, TWN     3:52:52     51
6     Michael Nunez, USA     4:01:54     47
7     Chung-Yi Lin, TWN     4:04:14     43
8     Yuan Keng Hsu, TWN     4:12:25     39
 
In the women's elite race, it was all Carina Wasle, who was the lone female professional in the contest. "It was the hardest race and the most beautiful race I've ever done," said Wasle, who has done just about every international XTERRA on the schedule over the past 15 years.  "This is my first time in Tahiti, and I think it's the best.  It's just amazing. The organizers are very good and put so much energy into the race. Its unique, and really special here."
 
Like Serrieres, Wasle will travel back to Europe to race at XTERRA Belgium next weekend and says her injured leg is getting better every day. "The strategy today was eat as much mud as you can," laughed Wasle.  "The bike was so hard, harder than Maui last year, so much mud you couldn't even push the bike because the wheels wouldn't turn.  It's the hardest challenge I've ever done.  I can guarantee you nobody will forget this race."