Good flying conditions enabled the leaders to round Mont Blanc and start heading back east. It was nail-biting action at the front with more drama at the back.
The lead trio of Maxime Pinot, Chrigel Maurer and Benoit Outters woke to a day promising fine flying conditions. Forecast cloudbases of up to 3,900m suggested they should be able to make it through the cols into Italy and onto the southern side of Mont Blanc, Western Europe’s highest peak and turnpoint 9 of the Red Bull X-Alps. First though they had to tag turnpoint 8 by going round Dent d’Oche. The trio were then soon in the air heading south past Morzine to St Gervais-les-Bains and the flanks of Mont Blanc. On the way Benoit was dropped as he failed to clear a col and was forced to relaunch putting him a few kilometres behind.
As they approached the mountain it was clear that conditions weren’t as good as the forecast promised. All three chose a route that took them to the west of the restricted zone in the Contamines valley where flying is not allowed below 300m above the ground. This circuitous route took them to Col de la Seigne where they could cross into Italy and onto the southern faces. At times Chrigel and Maxime looked to be flying attached to each other but as they moved back east Maxime seemingly turned up the gas and move ahead. Max said there was quite a lot of west wind making conditions a bit rough but the flying was stunning. With Benoit closing the gap, the trio headed back north to the Rhône valley landing close to Fiesch. They had flown around 200km and been in the air for more than nine hours. On the road that evening Benoit passed Steve Bramfitt heading the other way. As the pilots stopped for the night it was Chrigel who was narrowly back in the lead.
Behind them Patrick Von Känel (SUI2) had followed a similar route round Mt Blanc. It was Austria’s Simon Oberranuer who made a magic move that afternoon by taking a more direct route. Using the higher cloudbase later in the day he was able to climb up to the Col de Miage at 3367m and cut through into Italy. Doing this cut a big corner off the other pilot’s routes and moved him up to fourth place overall. Rather than move north like the leaders Simon and Patrick chose a more southerly route heading east.
Yael Margelisch and Laurie Genovese had some good flying as well, taking a different route from turnpoint 6 than the others and heading straight south to then fly west past Disentis. Yael made good use of the route to move a few places up the rankings.
There was more drama towards the back of the field when Nicola Donini and Théo de Blic hit a cable. Théo said, “It was impossible to see.” Théo’s wing was destroyed but he was able to land unhurt and continue with a replacement wing but Nicola was less fortunate, having a hard landing and being taken to hospital in a helicopter for a checkup as he was experiencing back pain. He later announced he was fine and would continue.
Today (June 27th) is Nicola’s birthday but this morning he received a present he wouldn’t have wanted, a call from race director Christoph Weber to say that he had been eliminated. By choosing to stay in the race Nicola had gallantly given the American duo of Gavin McClurg and Cody Mittanck the opportunity to pass him overnight and avoid elimination themselves.
Today looks like another good day of flying with Maxime saying another 200km is possible. Who will be first to pass turnpoint 10 at Piz Palü and how far will they get?
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