Challenging conditions and decisions… but the pace is still relentless
Changing plans to match the conditions can be critical for safety and for your position in the race
The different hikes from Maxime Pinot (FRA1), Damien Lacaze (FRA2), and Chrigel Maurer (SUI1) had different results – but led to the same place. Damien reached his intended launch point, only to decide that the conditions weren’t good. Damien said: “Maybe Maxime is in a better position,” before hiking to another take-off.
Maxime launched but wasn’t able to find a climb once he crossed towards Corno Baitone. He landed at Edolo, hiked up, and was then able to fly, but Chrigel was already in the air and heading West.
Pál Takats (HUN) made the decision to fly a more Southern line than the others. This move seems to have paid off. He launched to the East of Lago di Como and began to burn up the course back towards the lead group.
Another athlete following this Southern line was Aaron Durogati (ITA2). We heard of yesterday’s challenging crossing of the Lago di Como which saw Aaron change his plan of flying down due to the presence of North Föehn. Aaron decided to soar up the mountain and gain enough height to make the lake crossing, but the landing area presented difficulties: it had steep cliffs and many trees. He was able to land on the road and Race director, Ferdinand Vogel said: “It was sketchy.”
The weather conditions were changing the plans of every athlete. For Kinga Masztalerz (NZL), this meant waiting for rain showers to pass. She made an early hike and then a flight, but then the rain came. She was able to launch around 13:30 and is now making her way towards Turnpoint 6, Fiesch in the Aletsch Arena.
The leaders of Chrigel, Maxime, and Damien arrived at Turnpoint 12, Cima Tosa, soon after each other. Chrigel had managed to land, tag the Turnpoint, and then launch not long before Damien arrived. They had been flying against a persistent North wind which didn’t seem to slow them much.
A chasing group of Pál, Simon Oberrauner (AUT1), and Tim Alongi (FRA4) is not very far behind. No one has really broken away and there are still a lot of good decisions that have to be made.
Top image © zooom / Sebastian Marko
