Day 3 of the Mountain X Race would be the time for the bikers to shine. Saab Salomon started the day in the yellow jersey and hence were the team everyone wanted to be ahead of, in particular second and third place teams Nike and Salomon Santiveri 1. Starting from Beaufort at 6am for the first of the days two sections, Nike managed to steal an early march on their rivals, using a section of road which instead of the slower forest track to gain a five minute lead. Santiveri 1 pushed hard to not only gain any advantage over the British team, but also to try and cut down any time lost to the Americans.
Over the first 46km stage to Notre Dame de Bellcombe, the terrain varied a great deal, beginning with a long fire road climb then contouring on a good trail to Lac de la Girotte and the ski station at Val Joli, where the technical sections began. Almost all of the teams were reduced to pushing, not only for some of the ups, but also for some of the steeper downhills, as with another 32km stage to follow later in the day, this was not the time for heroics and the possibility of a crash.
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