Mavic Trans-Provence 2016

Mavic Trans-Provence 2016: Day Two (VIDEO)

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Report from day 2 of the Mavic Trans-Provence 2016, with Nico Lau remaining in the lead, but less that one minute keeping him there.

Mavic Trans-Provence 2016

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DAY 2 REPORT – THE ALPINE VERDON

With memories of Day 1 of Mavic© Trans-Provence 2016 racing’s snow and cold rapidly fading, racers instead battled the beating sun as they took on four physical stages, with the race moving from Barcelonnette to Villars-Colmars.

The morning shuttle took riders up the twists and turns of the staggering Col d’Allos road, which snakes its way uphill as it clings to the vertical mountainside, summiting at 2,200 metres and ready to start the warm-up traverse.

Mavic Trans-Provence 2016

From the first special of the day – Stage 5 of the weeklong event – things got tough, fast. A combination of what in the past was two separate stages, both were linked into one monster for 2016. It was a demanding way to get the day started – classic TP. And things wouldn’t get much easier, especially on the arduous 650m climb from 6 to 7. It would most certainly be worth it though – at 11m 28s for stage winner Nico Lau (Cube Action Team), and carving its way though the stunning forest before rocketing across the 45º lower slopes, Stage 7 made for the sort of trail that racers will remember for life.

Mavic Trans-Provence 2016

The day’s route finished with a final loop out into the wilds and a ‘short’ five-minute stage to bring riders home to camp in the Villars-Colmars valley.

Mavic Trans-Provence 2016

In the men’s racing the top of the results sheet showed Nico Lau once again forging ahead from the rest, taking three of the four stage victories. The one remaining stage win went to a flying Gustav Wildhaber, who took 2nd place on the day with Francois Bailly-Maitre in third.

Lau extends his overall 2016 TP lead from Bailly-Maitre, and he goes into Day 3 with nearly a minute buffer over his compatriot.

Mavic Trans-Provence 2016

Ines Thoma remains at the top of the women’s results sheet, although it looks like she may have a fight on her hands as Carolin Gehrig edged beyond her to take the day’s win and solidify her 2nd place in the overall race standings. Gehrig now sits only seven seconds behind Thoma.

Day 3 will take riders on another journey through the pristine valleys and passes of the area as they tackle the longest day yet – 48km riding with over 3,000m of descending as the event moves towards Valberg.

See the stage results here, and the overall standings here.

Mavic Trans-Provence 2016

(Photos by Sven Martin, Sam Needham, and Duncan Philpott).

David started mountain biking in the 90’s, by which he means “Ineptly jumping a Saracen Kili Racer off anything available in a nearby industrial estate”. After growing up and living in some extremely flat places, David moved to Yorkshire specifically for the mountain biking. This felt like a horrible mistake at first, because the hills are so steep, but you get used to them pretty quickly. Previously, David trifled with road and BMX, but mountain bikes always won. He’s most at peace battering down a rough trail, quietly fixing everything that does to a bike, or trying to figure out if that one click of compression damping has made things marginally better or worse. The inept jumping continues to this day.

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