Alba De Silvestro and Remi Bonnet win the Junior event.
The second Individual race of the Scarpa ISMF World Cup circuit took place this morning on the snow of Arcalís, Andorra.
The Senior event, which consisted in almost 1,600 metres of slope diluted in four ascents, included a beautiful athletic challenge between Kilian Jornet Burgada, Robert Antonioli, and Xavier Gachet. Kilian started immediately in the first position with Robert Antonioli, the French Xavier Gachet, William Bon Mardion, and Damiano Lenzi behind. In the second ascent, Kilian maintained the first position, but in the subsequent descent the Italian Roberto Antonioli took the lead in the race. Antonioli flew down the descent almost in straight line along the maximum slope, thus reaching an impressive speed up to the point of losing the control of his skis and falling disastrously at a compression point at the end of the steepest section. Kilian shortened distances and took the lead at the third ascent. Due to a failure of his equipment, Antonioli had to be content with struggling to remain on the podium in the subsequent stages of the race.
The French Gachet took advantage of Antonioli’s problems to pass in the second position. During the last ascent, Kilian turned back from time to time to check his lead. During the descent, the Spanish made no mistake and crossed the finishing line in perfect solitude with a time of 1:54’30’’.
Xavier Gachet arrived second, while Antonioli managed to grab the third position and stop the timer at 1:56’15. William Bon Mardion and Matteo Eydallin were the fourth and fifth finishers, respectively.
In the female race, it was Laetitia Roux again who took the initiative before her team-mate Axelle Mollaret and the Swiss Jennifer Fiechter, with Claudia Galicia Cotrina and Marta Riba Carlos slightly behind.
Roux had no problem in keeping the first position and win her second Individual with a time of 2.23’20’’.
The very young Axelle Mollaret confirmed her second position and the third on the podium was Claudia Galicia Cotrina.
As regards Juniors, the race was won by the French Remi Bonnet, followed by the Italian Davide Magnini. Bonnet and Magnini struggled through the race and it was a twist of the back that gave the final victory to the French with a time of 40’05’’. The third place was conquered by Simon Bellabouvier, with Nicolò Canclini and Equy Samuel fourth and fifth, respectively.
Among girls, the Italian Alba De Silvestro won the race: after being second at Puy Saint Vincent, she managed to dominate her team-mate Giulia Compagnoni.
De Silvestro closed her race with a time of 48’20’’. The podium was completed by Sophie Mollard.
Anton Palzer (Ger) and Axelle Mollaret won the Espoir category.
The Vertical Race will take place tomorrow morning starting from Arinsal.