Degham, Pelletier take Gerardmer
French triathletes Toumy Degham and Delphine Pelletier topped small but talented fields to win the rugged and beautiful half Ironman distance Triathlon Gerardmer XL Saturday.
The Men
Degham combined a 23:50 swim, a 2:47:53 bike over Gerardmer's daunting climbs and a 1:21:17 run to finish in 4:36:53 with a 90-seconds margin of victory over runner-up Stanislav Krylov of Russia and 3:58 over 3rd-place finisher David Dellow of Australia.
According to unofficial race splits, Degham led the swim by 1:26 over 2012 Olympian Ivan Vasiliev of Russia and by 1:40 over fellow Russian and eventual runner-up Krylov. By the end of the rugged climbs of the bike, Degham seized the lead with an elapsed time of 3:14:00 which gave him a 2:18 lead over Krylov and 3:07 over Mathias Hecht of Switzerland.
By the end of the run, rainy conditions obviously left Degham and the rest of the competitors well off the pace of the previous two Gerardmer XL races. Degham, who placed 7th in this race in 2010, was 10 minutes off Sylvain Sudrie’s 2011 winning time and 16 minutes slower than Sudrie’s 2010 finish.
The win was the highlight of Degham’s 2012 season, and follows his 3rd place finish behind winner Michael Raelert at the European 70.3 Championships at Wiesbaden.
The Women
In the women’s race, 2004 Olympian Delphine Pelletier of France managed to upset two-time defending Gerardmer XL champion Caroline Steffen of Switzerland thanks to a dominating bike. At the end of the swim, Steffen posted a 25:13 split which gave her a 1:27 lead over Pelletier and 2:09 over Anais Robin. By the middle of the second lap of the bike, Pelletier had carved out a 4:48 advantage on Steffen. During the run, Pelletier enjoyed a maximum 10:52 lead on Steffen. While Steffen closed hard, she was only able to reduce Pelletier’s margin to 3:26 at the end of the 13.1-mile run.
The win reverses Pelletier's 2nd place finish to Steffen at this race in 2010. Earlier this season, Pelletier finished 3rd at the European Long Course championship in Kraichgau. In 2009, Pelletier finished 3rd at the ITU long distance World Championship in Perth, Australia.
As with the men, Pelletier’s overall time in tough conditions was 19 minutes slower than Steffen’s 2011 winning effort. While Steffen rode 300 kilometers to the race site from her Team TBB training base in Leysin, Switzerland, she could not claim that as an excuse as she did the same in her previous two wins in 2010 and 2011. As always, Steffen will ride the 300 kilometers back to Leysin.
Triathlon Gerardmer XL
Gerardmer, France
September 1, 2012
S 1.2 mi. / B 56 mi. / R 13.1 mi.
Results
Men
1. Toumy Degham (FRA) 4:36:53
2. Stanislav Krylov (RUS) 4:38:23
3. David Dellow (AUS) 4:40:51
4. Mathias Hecht (SUI) 4:42:27
5. James Cunnama (RSA) 4:44:01
6. Uwe Widmann (GER) 4:44:48
7. Mikel Elgezabal (ESP) 4:45:08
8. Manuel Roux (FRA) 4:48:13
9. Ivan Vasiliev (RUS) 4:48:52
10. Victor Debil-Caux (FRA) 4:52:15
Women
1. Delphine Pelletier (FRA) 5:09:50
2. Caroline Steffen (SUI) 5:13:16
3. Alexandra Louison (FRA) 5:23:57
4. Tamsin Lewis (GBR) 5:24:45
5. Anne Basso (FRA) 5:45:09
6. Doumic Letot (BEL) 5:46:20
7. Dagmar Matthes (GER) 5:50:48
8. Céline Feder (FRA) 5:54:43
9. Carla Van Rooijen (NED) 5:55:00
10. Céline Valtat (FRA) 5:58:30
