Under a sunny sky for the time trial but rainy conditions for the granfondo, the “66 Dégrés Sud” French qualifier in the Perpignan region witnessed some compelling racing.
In Thursday’s 18km out-and-back time trial, Dutchman David Veldhuis dominated the men’s field, securing a convincing victory with a 1 minute and 1-second lead over Frenchman Damien Degot. Auguste Castellan rounded out the top three, finishing 1 minute and 4 seconds behind Veldhuis, who averaged an impressive 38 km/h on the undulating course.
The women’s time trial saw French rider Gwenaelle Legendre take the win. Fellow Frenchwoman Laetitia Arsant finished second, 22 seconds behind, while Belgian Barbara Van Lathem claimed third place, 1 minute and 18 seconds back. Legendre’s average speed for her winning ride was 31 km/h.
Despite the Thursday’s sunshine, the 149km granfondo and the shorter 113km mediofondo races commenced under rainy skies. Lucas Fillatreau finished as the overall winner of the men’s granfondo, crossing the finish line more than 3 minutes ahead of Leo Pendery, who also arrived solo. Adrien Baron secured the third spot, trailing Fillatreau by 7 minutes and 22 seconds.
In the women’s granfondo, Canadian Emilie Fortin claimed a decisive victory but as a UCI team rider she’s not ranked in the official UCI results, outpacing Belgian Barbara Van Lathem by a significant margin of 27 minutes. Gwenaelle Legendre, the time trial winner, finished third in this event, 36 minutes behind Fortin.
The mediofondo, which served as a qualifier distance for men over 60 and women over 50, saw British rider Ashley Holding take the victory in the men’s category, while Corine Hernandez was the fastest woman in these categories battling for qualification.
