Gabioud and Gazzola - Photo: Stefano Torrione
Marco Gazzola crossed the line of Tor des Geants in Courmayeur first at 12:58 Wednesday, September 14 after 74 hours and 58 minutes of running. However the last control point for Marco was detected at the Bonatti hut at 12.06 and not at the last checkpoint where the Bertone refuge is located.
Marco Gazzola had traveled 11.90 km and 809 vertical meters from the refuge until Bonatti to Courmayeur in 52 minutes, an unlikely time for this section: For all these reasons, the race committee made the decision to disqualify Mark Gazzola.
” I made the mistake of taking the wrong path. I’m sorry the first surface of this mistake and I share the right decision taken by the race committee, “said Mark Gazzola.
Tor de Geants 2011: Jules Henry Gabioud Wins in 79:58
The Helvetian champion crossed the line in Courmayeur in 17.58 to take the victory and was greeted with a hug by suspended compatriot Marco Gazzola, who arrived three hours earlier.
In second place was Christophe Le Saux, leading for much of the race and who came in at 22.09. Frenchman Stephane Couleaud who was third in the standings seemsto have retired at the final checkpoint. Eric Arveux, Pablo Criado Toca and Anne Marie Gross Ollmont come home within minutes of each other.
At just 24 years, Gabioud is already great Helvetic runner: winner of 73 Grand Raid, the du gypaète Trail, Trail of the Great and the Trail des Allobreges Valdigne (about 55 kilometers long), last August was ranked 10th in the CCC ®, a variant of the North Face Ultra Trail du Mont Blanc.
After dominating for much of the competition, Frenchman Christophe Le Saux, protagonist of the most exciting events of this year’s Tor des Géants, arrived at the finish line at 22.09, winning second place. This nurse of 38 years, nicknamed “the jaguar of Guyana” is a champion of the trail, the biggest winner of all trails in the world in 2011: the Outback Race Track, the trail of Guyana, Guadalupe Trail Run and the Cordillera Huayhaìuash .
