While upcoming Thursday it’s time for the famous Triathlon Alpe d’Huez, a ‘warm-up’ has just taken place in the form of the Duathlon Alpe d’Huez. Athletes first ran more than six kilometers in the valley of Bourg d’Oisans before taking the bike and cycling as fast as possible up the Alpe d’Huez. Once at the top of course the race wasn’t over yet, because there was a last 5km run left to complete before the finish.
In the men’s race victory went to Frenchman Emile Blondel-Hermant, who thus upholds the honor of the home country. Behind Blondel-Hermant were two Belgians pro athletes who dominated the race: Thibaut de Smet finished second in 1:31:54 and Emmanuel Lejeune crossed the line third in a time of 1:32:12.
In the women’s race, the roles were just reversed in terms of nationalities: the win went to the Belgian Jeanne Dupont. She finished in 1:45:40. Belgian Maurine Ricour finished second in 1:46:01 and she had a gap over over a minute to the Belgian Lotte Claes, who finished third in 1:47:09.
