Lucas Bonin wins Bornes to Fly 2026

A fast and furious 13th edition of Bornes to Fly took place last weekend with the winners making goal early on Saturday morning. Lucas Bonin and François Montuori crossed the line in first and second place – separated by just two seconds after 11 hours of racing. Daniel Rosinsky completed the podium a few minutes later.

First woman went to Italian pilot Silvia Galli who reached goal in flight at 11.20am. An hour-and-a-half later Stéphanie Westerhuis crossed the line, followed by Estelle Ferry at 3pm. In all 103 pilots aged 19 to 71 set off on the 205km course with ten turnpoints. By the end, 80% of athletes had made it to goal.

The race started at 9.15am on Friday 8 May from the Col de la Croix Fry in the Chaîne des Aravis. The first pilots took off around 9.45am in already unstable flying conditions. Overdevelopment then halted play with organisers suspending flying as thunderstorms arrived at 5.40pm. Athletes continued on foot until 9pm.

On Saturday the race resumed at 7.30am with the first winners arriving just over an hour later. For the rest of the field, sunny and unstable conditions allowed pilots to progress and make up for lost time. By the end of the second day 69 pilots had made goal.

One pilot who was forced to withdraw was Tanguy Renaud-Goud, the hike-and-fly world record holder and Red Bull X-Alps pilot. He hurt himself as he came into land just as a rain shower approached around 4.30pm on the first day.

“He was rescued by helicopter and taken to the hospital with a broken sacrum. François Montuori was flying above him at that time, he immediately landed close to him and he supervised the rescue along with the organisation and Tanguy’s assistance,” organisers said.

They added that since François had lost a lot of time with the rescue, he was “driven back to the head of the race to resume it without being penalised.”

In an Instagram post François recalled the race’s frenetic pace at the front. “The first part (was) in ideal flying conditions. Then things got a bit tense for the leading group as we approached the Salève flatlands, where we had to deal with cyclic conditions and quite some shade.

“We got caught up, and I lost about ten minutes. After signing in at Planfait, we headed toward Le Môle via Parmelan / Sous-Dine, where Tanguy, Patrick, Charlie put a strong pace to catch up with the lead group just before the Le Môle turnpoint.

“On the way back from the turnpoint, I found myself in complete control of the leading group, but it started to rain, and Tanguy and I decided to land on a nearby field to wait out the rain. Unfortunately, Tanguy crashed hard…”

He added: “Saturday morning, just a quick climb up to La Queblette and a short morning glide at a glide ratio of 15 with our Zeolites-Sublites, and Lucas and I were at the goal by 8.30am.”

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