Last weekend, after the Langkawi MTB Challenge in Malaysia, the marathon riders went to the next stop of the Marathon World Series. There wasn't much time for regeneration, the drivers and supervisors only had five days to travel from the race in Malaysia to the Côte d'Azur. The program included the Roc D'Azur, a race as part of the bike festival of the same name. A completely different race awaited the drivers than in Malaysia, because the circuit near Nice was extremely fast and technically demanding due to the many rocky passages.
The 83-kilometer route demanded everything from the drivers. A leading group broke away quite early, which was able to extend its lead, especially on the descents. However, the final decision was brought by the early sprint of Topeak Ergon team rider Alban Lakata. With around 500 meters to go he was able to break away from the Czech Jaroslav Kulhavy (Specialized). It was a good day for the current leader in the world rankings, Steffen Thum (Rose-UltraSports). After a long season, he can maintain his lead and goes into the winter break as the first in the world series.
The race could not have gone better for British Champion Sally Bigham. She wins by a huge margin over France's Marcouyre, securing her fourth win in a row
//Result men
1. Alban Lakata (Austria) 3:43:03
2. Jaroslav Kulhavy (Czech Republic) 3:43:07
3. CHristoph Sauser (Switzerland) 3:43:10
4.Moritz Milatz (Germany) 3:44:58
5. Jochen Kaess (Germany) 3:50:29
//Result women
1. Sally Bigham (Great Britain) 4:41:07
2. Hlene Marcouyre (France) 4:57:56
3. Alice Pirard (Belgium) 25:03:25
4. Verena Krenslehner (Austria) 5:19:01
5. Isabel van der Voorde (Belgium) 5:21:51