Author: X-Pyr

Today, yes, we had the good day of flying that we were all looking forward to. Today the teams marked 3 waypoints: 2-Vall d’Azun, 3-Boi-Taull, 4-Monte Perdido.

As soon as the time opened, Gabriel Jansen started to cover the hour he had until take-off and at 8:05 he took off from La Couraduque (Val d’Azun) and made a glide to the valley, then had to kick over the mountains towards Cauterets.
Meanwhile, Shane took off from Soum de Berdocou, near Couraduque and made the turnpoint in flight and then caught it on foot.

Later, on their next flight, they would be the first to reach the 2,500m that marked the break in the inversion layer.

Behind, Simon Oberrauner and Pierre Rémy flew very fast, and took advantage of all the south faces before the Val d’Azun mark, to mark the waypoint in flight and practically caught up with those in front of them and joined them at Luz St Saveur.

This was the moment when the local pilot, Pierre, got stuck and Simon got away from him.

In front Shane Tigue led the whole race followed by Gabriel Jansen.
Simon also overtook Gabe who got stuck near Sant Lary Soulan.

On the other hand, Lars Meerstetter was also remarkable. Lars opted for the southern route, but perhaps he did it too early in the morning and lost a lot of flight time, because by the time he took off, most of the pilots had overtaken him. He has had to do a lot of walking to cross the mountains.

There were some very good ceilings and the route from Bareges, the one between the Pic du Midi de Bigorre (a waypoint on several occasions in the X-Pyr) to Saint Lary Soulan, worked well in flight.
He did very well, but he was overtaken by the other pilots.In the end, his efforts were not rewarded as expected.

We have seen many fantastic flights, but we could highlight one, due to the atypical nature of the route. The flight of Benoit Brunet-Poirier, from Pierre St Martin, crossing to the waypoint and then almost to Cauterets, is remarkable and very interesting.

Many riders have finally managed to reach the longed-for south face of the Pyrenees, and a new race is being prepared for the next few days. Tackling the waypoint
Facing the waypoint at Vall de Núria
Simon Oberrauner is now in the lead, almost tied with Shane Tighe. But with many riders on the lookout.
We start a new race on the 26th!

On the negative side, we note the withdrawal of several riders.
A very emblematic one, Maxime Pinot.

But we also have withdrawals of rookies this year, such as Darío Dandeu and Lucas Toledo. All due to various physical problems related to knees or feet.

An interesting and really tough day.
The strong wind from the N-NE was the signal for this day.
We thought that a few teams would reach TP2, but in the end nobody made it. Well, nobody made it, but Gabriel Jansen almost did.
He is now sleeping comfortably in a campsite next to the official landing site of this famous paragliding area, Coradouque, in TP2-Vall d’Azun.

We have another “winner” of the day, Jared Scheid, who flew 86 km to reach the second place at the end of the day. The biggest comeback today, and the longest flight also.

At south a big gaggle leaded by Christian Schugg, William Pierre and Lenart Oblak.

Noé Court was first to fly, followed by Lars, with some short glides to avoid having to walk an extra kilometre with some short glides to avoid some extra km walking.

Except for a few teams who chose the northern route. This, as we can see, has paid off.
In fact, the 2 previous leaders: Lars Meerstetter and Sebastian Weber were leading this option. The general strategy was to go south-east. And we saw some flights, but they found the easterly wind, which blew them to the ground.

Lars and Sebastian, almost following the route line between TP1 and TP2 kept a good advantage over the other teams.

Gabe, one by one, overtook all the teams he met during his fantastic flight (80 km in 3 stages). No other pilot (with the exception of Shane Tighe later on) was able to maintain his rhythm.

Meanwhile, we saw some good flights at the back. The spaniards Jordi Aymerich and Iñigo Ais passed many teams. On day 1 they finished at the back of the scoreboard, but today, other pilots had to watch how they flew over their heads.

Unlike others, Gabe made a good choice by trying to fly north near Accous (waypoint in 2022).
By flying north, he was able to cross the Laruns and reach the better areas towards the NE.

He couldn’t fly to the target because there was a “wall” in the middle, the peak of Coos. But after a short hike, he flew again from Soulor to reach his goal for the day, the official landing at Aucun.

Tomorrow morning, there is no doubt in our minds that he will be on his way at 7:00 a.m. to the painful TP2 in Vall d’Azun.

The first blisters are starting to appear on some of the athletes. So we hope that tomorrow will be a completely flyable day, which will allow us to enjoy this race even more.

A nicenote: Mael Baguet lost his tracker in an impossible place (to find it again). And they did it!!, the tracker was recovered in a field in Ferns.

So, a typical X-Pyr day.Not easy and with big changes in the scoring.

Tomorrow…more!