The French Trail Long Championships were marked by extreme conditions and a mistake by the favorites at the top of Mont Ventoux on Sunday. In a surprising turn of events, Florian Bernabeu-Seguy took advantage to win in Bédoin.
It was a race scenario that no one could have predicted. These French Long Trail Championships were extremely challenging on Sunday due to the weather conditions at the top of Mont Ventoux (snow and wind). They were completely crazy in terms of twists and turns. Not at all expected to be one of the favorites in this 50km format with around 2,500 meters of elevation gain, Florian Bernabeu-Seguy emerged victorious in 4h18’01 in Bédoin ahead of Xavier Bartoli (4h22’51) and Valentin Benard (4h23’55).
So, an unexpected podium for three men who took advantage of a mistake made by those aiming to win at the start on Sunday morning. The fault lay with an error in the course made by the six leading athletes at the iconic Chalet Reynard, after about 2.5 hours of racing.
Antoine Charvolin, Mathieu Delpeuch, Robin Juillaguet, Rémy Brassac, Arnaud Bonin, and Clément Lalba took too long to realize their mistake, which definitively knocked them out of contention for a podium position.
In response to the error, Florian Bernabeu-Seguy, who was visibly moved, did not want to speculate on the reasons behind it. “It played in my favor, I took advantage of it,” he admitted. “It’s a championship. For now, I don’t know if I understand what’s going on.”
His first-place finish automatically qualifies him for the European Championships in Kamnik, Slovenia on June 6th, but the runner from Annecy remained cautious, leaving the final decision in the hands of the selector once the race has been analyzed thoroughly.
In the women’s category, Audrey Tanguy emerged victorious in 4h58’02 ahead of Marie Goncalves and Anne-Cécile Thevenot. Meanwhile, in the short trail category (29km with 1,350m elevation gain), Pierre Galbourdin and Cécile Jarousseau were crowned French champions.
