There’s nothing fairly just like the UTMB Mont Blanc competition week, and the 2023 CCC is the ultimate lead-up to the massive dance. Racers, numbering 2,406 this yr, took off from Courmayeur, Italy, on Friday, September 1 at 9:15 a.m. to cowl 101 kilometers (63 miles) and roughly 6,100 meters (20,000 toes) of elevation achieve.
The course, moving into the wrong way from the TDS, which runs earlier within the week, traces a sinuous path by means of the mountains, paying a go to to Champex-Lac, Switzerland, and ending on the hub of the week’s festivities, Chamonix, France. Typically used as a stepping stone for racers eyeing UTMB sooner or later, it’s all the time a aggressive race on each the boys’s and ladies’s aspect, and this yr was no exception. Like the opposite races this week, the CCC was run on a barely modified course, however the change didn’t have an effect on its distance or vertical achieve.
It’s also possible to try extra outcomes from the week’s UTMB Mont Blanc competition:
2023 CCC Males’s Race
Jonathan Albon (U.Ok.) ran away with the highest honors at this yr’s CCC by executing what seemed to be a measured and well-planned race technique. Ending second within the race in 2022, he had the data of what he wanted to do to win it. Lurking within the high 10 early within the race, Albon appeared content material to bide his time. However when it was time to go, nobody was ready to stick with him.
Albon pulled away from the remainder of the sector not solely by operating quicker, however by being extremely environment friendly within the support stations. He took on all of his vitamin and liquid whereas nonetheless standing, refusing to sit down down and waste any time. Even in a race this lengthy, every second counts. Excessive of the ultimate climb at La Flégère, he was 5 minutes away from his subsequent competitor. Identified for his descending, Albon by no means regarded again and completed with a time of 10:14:25.
Jia-Sheng Shen (China) got here closest to matching Albon’s tempo to complete second, a big enchancment over his fourth-place end within the race in 2022. Shen meant enterprise from the get-go and took the race out quick. He led for a lot of the time till Albon’s unrelenting tempo merely turned an excessive amount of. He completed slightly below 10 minutes again with a time of 10:22:30.
Dakota Jones enjoys the ending straight on his strategy to ending third. All photographs: UTMB
The American contingent rounded out the remainder of the highest six, with Dakota Jones taking the ultimate podium spot with a time of 10:41:40. Jonathan Rea was shut behind with a time of 10:43:51, and Drew Holmen got here in just some minutes again with a time of 10:47:49. Seth Ruhling got here in at 10:55:14.
2023 CCC Males’s Outcomes
- Jonathan Albon (U.Ok.) – 10:14:25
- Jia-Sheng Shen (China) – 10:22:30
- Dakota Jones (U.S.) – 10:41:40
- Jonathan Rea (U.S.) – 10:43:51
- Drew Holmen (U.S.) – 10:47:49
- Seth Ruhling (U.S.) – 10:55:14
- Peter Fraňo (Slovakia) – 10:59:52
- Luke Grenfell-Shaw (U.Ok.) – 11:00:41
- Baptiste Petitjean (France) – 11:08:47
- Rodrigo Monasor Romero (Spain) – 11:08:55
The 2023 CCC males’s podium (l-to-r): 2. Jia-Sheng Shen, 1. Jonathan Albon, and three. Dakota Jones.
2023 CCC Girls’s Race
It was pure dominance from Yngvild Kaspersen (Norway) within the ladies’s race this yr. Ending thirtieth final yr should have been a studying expertise that she put to good use this time round. From early within the race, she held a strong hole on her closest rivals. At Champex-Lac, 53 kilometers into the race, she was already 20 minutes up, and the hole solely continued to develop. She completed in 11:51:22, practically 40 minutes up on the subsequent girl.
The 2023 CCC ladies’s champion, Yngvild Kaspersen, coming down the ending chute.
Emily Hawgood (Zimbabwe, lives within the U.S.) is not any stranger to the UTMB Mont Blanc competition occasions, and her second place right here with a time of 12:28:19 confirmed that she’s solely persevering with to enhance. She completed sixth final yr at UTMB and tenth in 2021. She’s additionally one of many many people who find themselves selecting to double up a UTMB competition occasion with the Western States 100 earlier within the yr. She completed a powerful fifth in that jaunt by means of the California mountains, a a lot totally different surroundings from the CCC course, displaying that she’s a flexible runner who can deal with many circumstances.
The race for the ultimate spot on the rostrum got here right down to a battle between Helen Mino Faukner (U.S.) and Hau Ha Thi (Vietnam). With simply the slightest of margins, the American was capable of maintain on to 3rd with a time of 12:38:05. Thi completed simply 23 seconds behind.
The North American contingent had a robust displaying within the second half of the highest 10. Emily Schmitz, Emmiliese Von Avis, and Tara Fraga, the entire U.S., landed within the high 10, as did Arden Younger of Canada.
2023 CCC Girls’s Outcomes
- Yngvild Kaspersen (Norway) – 11:51:22
- Emily Hawgood (Zimbabwe) – 12:28:19
- Helen Mino Faukner (U.S.) – 12:38:05
- Hau Ha Thi (Vietnam) – 12:38:28
- Emily Schmitz (U.S.) – 12:42:24
- Audrey Tanguy (France) – 12:42:37
- Mari Klakegg Fenre (Norway) – 12:47:30
- Emmiliese Von Avis (U.S.) – 12:53:53
- Tara Fraga (U.S.) – 13:10:03
- Arden Younger (Canada) – 13:11:15
The 2023 CCC ladies’s high 4 (l-to-r): 2. Emily Hawgood, 1. Yngvild Kaspersen, 3. Helen Mino Faukner, and 4. Hau Ha Thi.
