Honorin Hamard won the first task of the PWC in Gemona, Italy on 20 June 2021. He completed the 63km task in two hours and 49 minutes, less than 30 seconds ahead of second-placed Seb Ospina.
Ruth Jessop reports from Italy:
The sauna-like conditions didn’t dampen the spirts on launch. There was much laughter and smiles as old friends met after a year apart.
Today was a difficult day with clouds touching the mountain tops and overcast conditions in the flats. Excellent work by the task setting committee, Denis Soverini, Andreas Malecki and Idris Birch saw a very ingenious corridor task set, zigzagging south, then a race to goal north in the mouth of the mountains.
It was a 63km task that tested the best of them, and one of the best made goal first.
It was a day when Honorin was not going to wait for anyone, making the most of every bit of lift. A courageous push out on his own to the third turnpoint gave him the lead he needed to gain height and go for goal.
XContest veteran Sebastian Ospina was determined not to let Honorin get away and touched down 27 seconds behind him, giving them a five-minute lead over the other 29 who arrived in goal after them.
Today’s testing conditions didn’t dampen the enthusiasm of newby, Prune Delaris from Saint-André-les-Alpes in France. So, over to Prune for the final word in today’s summary about her first ever World Cup task: “C’était trop cool!”.
The average speed of the fastest pilot round the course was 20.44 km/h.
The first 31 pilots made goal, and thus all flew the same distance, and gained the same distance points. Today’s winner is therefore the one with a combination of the best speed/time points and lead out points.
Top 3 speed/time points winners – the fastest pilots round the course:
Honorin Hamard, 02:49:01
Sebastian Ospina, 02:49:28
Joachim Oberhauser, 02:54:18
Top 3 leading point-baggers – those who were in the lead the most:
Honorin Hamard, 122.3
Sebastian Ospina, 110.2
Simon Mettetal, 96.6
Top 3 overall
1st, Honorin Hamard
2nd, Sebastian Ospina
3rd, Simon Mettetal
Top 3 women
1st, Nanda Walliser
2nd, Klaudia Bulgakov
3rd, Seiko Fukuoka Naville
Top 3 teams
1st, Air’G Products
2nd, Wind
3rd, Cross Country Magazine
All the results are available here. Follow the live tracking at pwca.org or via the PWCA app.
