A flagship event in the Haute-Savoie sporting landscape since 1989, Megève Mont-Blanc Cycling has once again risen to all the challenges this year. Everything was there: a bright blue sky, a radiant sun, and more than 1 cyclists came to challenge themselves and enjoy the superb routes and trails of the destination.
Source: CP – Photos: ©David Machet
One month to the day before the arrival of the 10th stage of the Tour de France, all participants in the 4 events from Megève Mont-Blanc Cycling were able to really put themselves in the shoes of these professional runners, by taking the same end of the course, leading them from the centre of Megève to the legendary site of Cote 2000. A 7 km climb, certainly difficult but oh so splendid, leading cyclists into the incredible cirque that is Cote 2000.
Gravel on Saturday for some, cyclo on Sunday for others, or even both to push this challenge to the extreme: All the events were a great success, a success made possible thanks to the Megève Sports Club and all its volunteers. A real cycling party!
Gravel, the new trend!
This Saturday was held the second edition of the Gravel event composed of 70% of path with incredible landscapes like the Beaufortain massif and of course the Mont-Blanc massif in the background. This 75km route with a 2m elevation gain has once again been unanimously approved by the 47 “gravelly” people involved including 2 women !
Already a winner last year, Bruno Morel from Annecy wins “L’Aventurière” for the second time in 3h35mn07 sec. Although he led the race from the start, Bruno did not have the huge lead he had last year since the first 4 riders were less than 10 minutes apart. Coming in 2nd, 2 minutes 33 seconds behind Bruno Morel, a tough opponent, local Antoine Socquet-Juglard gave him a hard time. A great battle took place between these 2 men, forcing Bruno to not give up until the end.
Bruno Morel: "From the start the race started really strong, the pace was very sustained and Antoine came back to me 10km before the end of the race. It was tough because I planned to do the 150km loop tomorrow! I wanted to save myself a little but it was impossible." The ranking of this young discipline coming straight from the United States, a discipline that straddles cycling route and mountain biking fully reflected this crossing of two practices, with Bruno Morel from the “cycling” world and Antoine Socquet-Juglard, the local mountain biker.
The Swiss Kévin Boscardin completed the podium in 3h43mn06sec, a rider also entered in the cyclosportive the following day for the classification of La Phénoménale (Editor's note: The Phénoménale is the ranking based on the cumulative total of the Gravel L'Aventurière and the cyclosportive L'Originale events – 15 riders have chosen to take on this challenge over 2 days with 175 km at stake.)
Rankings: HERE
The Original “cyclo”, the ultimate and historic event!
The next day, Sunday, it’s time for the cyclosportive: a competition which celebrates its 32nd edition this year. A test which met, once again, with great success since the organization was fully booked 48 hours before the start of the event. These are therefore Nearly 850 cyclists set off from the centre of Megève at 8:00 a.m., under a magnificent blue sky, in a sporty and friendly atmosphere.
For 2 years, the credo of this event has been freedom! So we get on our bikes, we ride the first 60 km, then we choose to stop or continue to 100 km or even push the counter back to 150 km with a positive elevation gain of almost 5 m. A real sporting challenge, up to everyone's standards, for all these cyclists who came to get their jerseys wet... and it was, given the summer temperatures of this beautiful day!
On the distance of 60km is Félix Perrillat-Boiteux, originally from Thônes and member of Team SQR, won in 1h46mn57sec. He finished 4 minutes 27 seconds ahead of Romain Champenois and 6 minutes 01 seconds ahead of Alexis Betrix. The first woman, Anne-Lise Desjacques, finished 18th overall out of 152 classified over this distance.
On the loop of 100km who borrows the routes winding paths of the Arpettaz pass, The first 4 finished in a sprint on this difficult climb of the Cote 2000. In this exercise, Maxime Jarnet takes first place in 3h20mn20 in front of Romain Gauthier and Mathis Lauras.
Note the very fine 10th place of the Swiss Kevin Boscardin, allowing him to win the challenge of “The Phenomenal”, the marriage between the Gravel event and the 100km loop.
Just like last year, Loïc Ruffaut wins the 150km loop in 5h22mn50sec ahead of Vincent Arnaud, double winner of the MB Race, by 16mn38. The Orléanais, Guillaume January completes this podium.
Rankings: HERE
The Megève Sports Club is already working on the next edition of Megève Mont-Blanc Cycling scheduled for June 10 & 11, 2023. Registration opens in December on https://
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