Daubord, Wasle win XTERRA Tahiti
Brice Daubord from France and Carina Wasle from Austria captured the fifth annual XTERRA Tahiti off-road triathlon elite titles on the beautiful island of Moorea on Friday, May 31, 2019.
It’s the second career XTERRA World Tour win for Daubord, whose first came four years ago in Tahiti, and the 23rd in the illustrious 15-year career for Wasle, the reigning XTERRA European Tour Champion, who won her first XTERRA race back in 2005.
In the men’s elite race Daubord and Maxim Chane were first out of the water with Cedric Fleureton and Arthur Serrieres not far behind. Chane pushed ahead to an early lead on the mud-soaked tropical bike course until the mud clogged his tires and chains and forced him to stop.
In what turned out to be the tactical decision of the day, Daubord had rubbed massage oil all around his tires and chain before the race in anticipation of the muddy conditions, and it worked pretty good.
“It was a good choice,” said Daubord. “I still had to stop and remove mud, but I think my bike and chain held up better than the rest. It was very slippery out there, and the whole time I was worried about Cedric and Arthur behind me because they are such good runners.”
Daubord was able to take a big lead into the run and savor the adventure of the day. His winning time was 2:52:41, more than six-minutes ahead of Fleureton.
“It’s not easy to win an XTERRA, and it doesn’t happen very often so I’m really very excited to win today,” said Daubord, who will enjoy a few extra days to rest and recover and play tourist around the island with his girlfriend.
Fleureton, who placed 5th at XTERRA Worlds in 2017 the last time he raced off-road, moved into the second spot during the first lap of the bike and stayed there the rest of the way.
“The race today was very good,” said Fleureton. “This place is extraordinary. The nature here is incredible. And the race was such an adventure, it’s why I love the sport.”
Fleureton added that his 17-year-old son, who has discovered mountain biking and triathlon, has re-ignited his passion for racing and he looks forward to taking him to XTERRA Worlds in Maui with him this year.
Arthur Serrieres, who won XTERRA Greece last month and was second at XTERRA Italy-Lake Garda last week, passed Chane on the run to finish in third, and will head back to Europe to race at XTERRA Belgium next weekend.
“Two races in a row and one next week, I have a big program this year,” said Serrieres. “My day was quite good, but I had trouble on the bike because it was so muddy it was hard to continue riding. Still, the course was beautiful, and this is XTERRA, Mother Nature is like that.”
Chane held on for fourth place, followed by Yen-Ching Chiang – Taiwan’s fastest off-roader, in fifth.
Elite Men's Results
Pos Name, NAT Time Points 1 Brice Daubord, FRA 2:52:41 75 2 Cedric Fleureton, FRA 2:59:05 67 3 Arthur Serrieres, FRA 3:05:29 61 4 Maxim Chane, FRA 3:06:43 56 5 Yen-Ching Chiang, TWN 3:52:52 51 6 Michael Nunez, USA 4:01:54 47 7 Chung-Yi Lin, TWN 4:04:14 43 8 Yuan Keng Hsu, TWN 4:12:25 39
In the women’s elite race, it was all Carina Wasle, who was the lone female professional in the contest.
“It was the hardest race and the most beautiful race I’ve ever done,” said Wasle, who has done just about every international XTERRA on the schedule over the past 15 years. “This is my first time in Tahiti, and I think it’s the best. It’s just amazing. The organizers are very good and put so much energy into the race. Its unique, and really special here.”
Like Serrieres, Wasle will travel back to Europe to race at XTERRA Belgium next weekend and says her injured leg is getting better every day.
“The strategy today was eat as much mud as you can,” laughed Wasle. “The bike was so hard, harder than Maui last year, so much mud you couldn’t even push the bike because the wheels wouldn’t turn. It’s the hardest challenge I’ve ever done. I can guarantee you nobody will forget this race.”
All-time XTERRA Tahiti Elite Winners
Year – Men’s Champ/Women’s Champ
2019 – Brice Daubord/Carina Wasle
2018 – Mauricio Mendez/Jacqui Allen
2017 – Sam Osborne/Jacqui Allen
2016 – Josiah Middaugh/Lesley Paterson
2015 – Brice Daubord/Sarah Backler
Osborne, Slater lead XTERRA Asia-Pacific Tour after 3
With their wins today both Brice Daubord and Carina Wasle put themselves within striking distance for the XTERRA Asia-Pacific Tour elite title. Sam Osborne is still on top with 165 points, but Daubord is just eight-points back at with 157 points. For the women, it’s Penny Slater on top with 167 points, then Jacqui Allen two points behind, and Wasle now just 10 points back.
Elites count their best three scores out of five events, and the first race at the XTERRA Asia-Pacific Championship is a must count. The next two races are on back-to-back weekends in September, with XTERRA Japan on Sept. 15 and the inaugural XTERRA China on September 22.
ASIA-PACIFIC TOUR ELITE STANDINGS
After 3, as of 5.31.19
Elite Men
PL NAME, NAT TOT TWN NZL TAH 1 Sam Osborne, NZL 165 90 75 x 2 Brice Daubord, FRA 157 82 x 75 3 Ben Allen, AUS 131 75 56 x 4 Maxim Chane, FRA 125 69 x 56 5 Lewis Ryan, NZL 114 63 51 x 6 Yuan Keng Hsu, TWN 103 37 27 39 7 Bradley Weiss, RSA 100 100 x x 8 Chung-Yi Lin, TWN 99 31 25 43 9 Yen-Ching Chiang, TWN 92 41 x 51 10 Brodie Gardner, AUS 86 53 33 x 11 Taylor Charlton, AUS 85 49 36 x 12 Ryan Sissons, NZL 67 x 67 x 13 Cedric Fleureton, FRA 67 x x 67 14 Olly Shaw, NZL 61 x 61 x 15 Arthur Serrieres, FRA 61 x x 61 16 Doug Hall, GBR 58 58 x x 17 Sam Clark, NZL 47 x 47 x 18 Michael Nunez, USA 47 x x 47 19 Luke McKenzie, AUS 45 45 x x 20 Cameron Paul, NZL 43 x 43 x 21 Flavio Vianna, NZL 39 x 39 x 22 Joe Miller, PHI 34 34 x x 23 Clark Ellice, NZL 30 x 30 x
Elite Women
PL NAME, NAT TOT TWN NZL TAH 1 Penny Slater, AUS 167 100 67 x 2 Jacqui Allen, GBR 165 90 75 x 3 Carina Wasle, AUT 157 82 x 75 4 Samantha Kingsford, NZL 136 75 61 x 5 Morgane Riou, FRA 119 63 56 x 6 Lydia Hale, NZL 105 58 47 x 7 Fabiola Corona, MEX 69 69 x x 8 Nicole Walters, GBR 53 53 x x 9 Rachel Challis, NZL 51 x 51 x 10 Leela Hancox, AUS 49 49 x x Triathlon Race Reports Asia-Pacific Asia-Pacific Tour Source | Back to News