Tor des Géants 2015: an uncertain race to the end

Yesterday the Tor "lost" one of its main players, Ireland’s Dan Doherthy who withdrew after circa 240 km. Doherthy was forced to abandon the race due to a knee injury that slowed him down significantly along the path that leads from Valtournanche to Rifugio Barmasse. Current race leader Patrik Bohard had slowed down, too, and the 51-year-old from France was therefore due to reach the Cunéy mountain hut a few hours later than originally expected. For their part, Japan’s Masahiro Ono and Spain’s Oscar Perez had quickened the pace and both were making an impressive comeback. It's worth remembering that two years ago Perez had made a surprising recovery during the last few kilometers, finishing second. Ono and Perez were separated from Bohard by Italy’s Gianluca Galeati who currently holds provisional third , with less than a hundred kilometers still to go. The first arrivals are scheduled for mid-morning today, seeing that the race times are slightly slower than last year’s. This great uncertainty is making the race more interesting than ever before.

In the women’s race Switzerland’s Denise Zimmermann is in the lead, and twelfth in the overall standings, followed by Italy’s Lisa Borzani, twentieth overall, ahead of her compatriot Marina Plavan.

Of course, everything can still change and in a race like there’s little point in making predictions, especially since the weather can still influence the outcome greatly. The forecast for today is rain and snow above 2800 meters, and fortunately only Col Malatrà exceeds this altitude. Those in charge of safety have worked hard in preparing the final, challenging meters to the 2936m high col. Having said that, temperatures at altitude are high and the forecast snow may well turn into something less consistent. To find out the athletes will, literally, have to have their heads in the clouds.

In the rest of the race there are no significant problems worth reporting other than the expected and fully-justified fatigue setting in. Many athletes though are still on great form, proving that their training had been meticulous.

The rescuers had little to do yesterday and only two recoveries were made, for knee problems and fatigue. All athletes were checked and discharged, including the Portuguese runner who had shown symptoms of hypothermia two days ago. The race continues therefore, eyes glued to the skies. The changing climate is the Leitmotif, so to speak, of this edition.