Chane, Billouin win XTERRA France on July 4

It’s the second XTERRA World Tour win for Chane, who got his first at the 2020 XTERRA Nouvelle-Aquitaine off-road tri in the south of France, and the first big win for Billouin.

In the men’s elite race, Brian Tetard was the first out of the water followed by Chane, Francois Vie and Felix Forissier, with trio Karel Dusek, Arthur Serrieres, and Francois Carloni 10 seconds behind in the chase group.

Chane pushed hard at the front to lead the pack  on the bike and create a 1-minute lead on Sloth Nielsen in second, with Vie and Arthur Forissier following in 3^rd and 4^th place, respectively, going into the bike-to-run transition.

Looking strong from the outset, Chane held his lead all the way to the finish line to take the title in 3:13:52, with Sloth Nielsen and Arthur Forissier rounding out the podium in second and third place respectively, followed by Xavier Dafflon and Vie.

Elite Men’s Top 5

Full results

In the Women’s Elite race, newcomer Aneta Grabmullerova stormed the swim, one minute up on a chase group that consisted of Segolene Valance, Billouin and Jindriska Zemanova. She held onto her lead for most of the first loop of the bike course, but Billouin was hot on her heels just 30 seconds behind, followed by Zemanova and then Menditto, who had done well to close the gap after losing two-minutes on the lead pack in the swim.

It all changed heading into the second loop of the bike, however, with Zemanova and Billouin leading the race and working as a duo to open the gap on Grabmullerova and Menditto.

Billouin continued to dominate on the run, posting the fastest run split of the day and crossing the finish line in first place to earn her first major XTERRA title with a time of 3:51:24. She said, “I am ecstatic about my first XTERRA victory, and it being XTERRA France makes this even more special.”

Menditto also produced an impressive run to hold onto second place, with Zemanova posting her best XTERRA performance and finishing third, closely followed by Grabmullerova and Carina Wasle in fourth and fifth respectively.

Elite Women’s Top 5

Full results
Relive race coverage on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/xterraeurope/
Photos and videos will be posted shortly at Facebook.com/xterraeurope.

All-Time XTERRA France Elite Champions
Year     Men’s Champ / Women’s Champ (Site)
2006    Cedric Fleureton / Renata Bucher (Saint Raphael)
2008    Nicolas Lebrun / Renata Bucher (Auron)
2008    Nicolas Lebrun / Renata Bucher (Mondelieu)
2010    Nicolas Lebrun / Marion Lorblanchet (Xonrupt)
2011    Victor Del Corral / Renata Bucher (Xonrupt)
2012    Asa Shaw / Helena Erbenova (Xonrupt)
2013    Nicolas Lebrun / Helena Erbenova (Xonrupt)
2014    Ruben Ruzafa  / Kathrin Mueller (Xonrupt)
2015    Ruben Ruzafa / Kathrin Mueller (Xonrupt)
2016    Ruben Ruzafa / Lesley Paterson (Xonrupt)
2017    Ruben Ruzafa / Laura Philipp (Xonrupt)
2018    Ruben Ruzafa  / Brigitta Poor (Xonrupt)
2019    Arthur Forissier / Morgane Riou (Xonrupt)
2021    Maxim Chane / Solenne Billouin (Xonrupt)

XTERRA World Championship Qualifying Series Schedule

XTERRA France was the 11th of 38 races around the world where amateur athletes could qualify for the 25th XTERRA World Championship to be held December 5, 2021 in Kapalua, Maui.