Third win for Xavier Thévenard

Race report: TDS® (sur les Traces des Ducs de Savoie) - August 27, 2014

The French runner Xavier Thévenard carved his name in the history of The North Face® Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc® by winning the TDS® (sur les Traces des Ducs de Savoie). It took him only 14h12 to complete the race (119km/7,300m of ascent). He has been warmly welcomed in the center of Chamonix last night, until he crossed the finish line at 9:15pm and greeted the crowd that cheered for him all through his effort.

After an impressive success last year on the Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc® (UTMB® 169km/9 600m of ascent, 20h34min57sec) and his victory on the CCC® (101km/6 000m of ascent) in 2010, the little French guy from Jura actually holds the title of the three major races of The North Face® Ultra-Trail du Mont-Banc®. He is the first athlete ever to accomplish this hat-trick.

"I had this race in mind for a little while now" said Xavier after crossing the finish line. But the young man has been having doubts these last weeks, mostly because of tiredness. Thanks to his team, he overcame this and appeared at his best on the start line at 7am on Wednesday morning in Courmayeur.

"The difficulty is always to realize a personal ambition, and prepare for it. So I can I say that it is a huge satisfaction today. This victory erases a little bit my results at the beginning of the season. I managed my speed all along, always keeping an eye on what was happening behind me. Focusing on my speed was enough to make the difference. When I saw that I was 30 minutes ahead in Les Contamines, I really started to believe in a possible win", says Xavier.

After the downpour that fell on Chamonix Tuesday, a beaming sun and perfect conditions were set for the 1,600 contestants of this TDS®. Xavier Thévenard quickly took the head and ran away in front of the pack.

Closely following his footsteps, a 31 years old young Nepalese, Samir Tamang. Winner of the Hong Kong 100km at the beginning of the year, the Nepalese military was following the French man's steps in the first third of the race before yielding to difficulties of the ground. "If I had been him, I wouldn't had tried to follow Xavier," said Dawa Sherpa while congratulating his fellow countryman. Tamang had never done a race longer than 100km before, and was running for the first time on European paths. "Let's say that the distance caused me the more trouble, more than tracks' lay out" explained Samir. He had a hard time fiinishing this TDS®, playing hide and seek with Jordi Bes, winner of CCC® in 2013. Despite everything, Tamang resisted Jordi's challenge and took second place, leaving third to the Spaniard.

French flags were fluttering when Maud Gobert and Agnès Hervé were running through checkpoints, leading the women's race. Unfortunately, tired and sick, the first one gave up at Col Joly (68km), while she was holding a considerable lead the race. In second position, Agnès Hervé gave up a little bit earlier. As a result, Spanish Teresa Nimez Perez was the first woman to cross the finish line ahead of the Italian Lisa Borzani.

At eight this morning, this long week of race was continuing with the start of the first OCC® (Orsière-Champex-Chamonix), the only race in the program which doesn't exceed 100km. The OCC® (52km and 3,300m of ascent) started under the sun which, hopefully, will continues to shine for the major race: UTMB® at 5:30pm on Friday in Chamonix.

Men's results

Women's results

Click here for full results