Stunning course Courtesy of X-Adventure

In the second stage of the X-Adventure Raid Series, only three teams of the 42 fighting it out in almost seasonal record temperatures made it through all the 14 different sections - an indication of just how demanding the course and the weather conditions were and a tribute to the endurance of all the teams taking part. But none deserve greater respect and admiration than the indomitable winners of this gruelling 2nd stage, Les Arcs-Quechua (FRA), led by Helene Rochas. Les Arcs-Quechua also won the opening X-Adventure race in Scotland.

Mont Blanc, resplendent in the dawn's rosy blush, greeted the sun as it climbed unimpeded by clouds into the early morning sky above the starting arch of the 2nd stage in Les Arcs. Moments later, at 06:00, the starting tape was dropped and the 42 teams sped away from the line for an opening mountain bike section covering 18 kilometers of bone-jarring, high-speed pedaling with a positive elevation gain of 1000m. Barely minutes after tackling the first uphill portion, Helene Rochas and her Les Arcs Quechua teammates were already setting the pace but, after the rocketing start, they made a costly orienteering error. "It's the first time I've ever seen Rudy Gouy make a mistake," exclaimed Christophe Faure. "He was pouring over the map and eventually admitted that we had to turn around. We had to make up the lost time on the trek."

At the end of the first section, XA Harrier (FR) was a few seconds up on Elix (FR) and in 3rd place was VSD-Eider (FR), keeping pace with the race front. Cognac Extreme Adventure (FR) pulled in almost immediately afterwards in 4th and last year's winners, Salomon Suisse (FR), despite the absence of Bettina Ernest, filled 5th spot. Les Arcs-Quechua was sitting in 7th just behind the youthful Equilibre Attitude (FR). Further behind and notably absent from the top 10 was Saab Salomon (GB), in 29th place after dealing with serial punctures on Helene Diamantides' front wheel. Human Link (SE), runners up in Kyrgyzstan last month, was also further back in 17th early in the race.

As the teams came out of the toughest section of the first day, a 21km high altitude trek, Les Arcs-Quechua was holding onto the lead just ahead of Sybelles Renault ESF (FR) and XA Harrier (FR). Most teams left the female member behind on this gruelling trek, where the mountaineers easily held sway. "Whenever there is a mountaineering section at the start of the race, we will be ahead," proclaimed Faure. XA Harrier threw away an excellent early start to the race when they encountered problems on the rappel just after climbing to the Bellecote pass.

	"On the second day three teams never made it off the line, suffering understandably from fatigue..."

"One of the teams fell on the ropes section and was a little shocked," explained Yves Bilodeau. "That slowed us down a bit, but now we are hoping to move steadily up to the head of the race. The main problem is the heat..." he said leaping into his canoe for the first whitewater section of the race. At the end of this section, the ranking had begun to settle down, with those teams strong or fortunate enough to sustain their presence over all the sections thus far occupying the top 16 spots. Other teams either chose to make tactical omissions and jump certain sections or were forced into doing so either through injury or elimination, thus picking up time penalties and pushing themselves down the ranking.

Of the first group, Les Arcs-Quechua were still managing to defend a narrow 1 minute 24 second lead over closest challengers Sybelles Renault ESF while 3rd place Salomon Suisse (CH), 24 minutes off the race leaders, were leading a pack of three teams spread over 15 minutes. Nokia Adventure (FI), Saab Salomon and Ertips Salomon (FR) were all working hard to stay in contention for the podium and not allow last year's winners to stretch the gap, especially the French team who had earlier "lost" their 4th member due to a sprained ankle. Behind this group of frontrunners, French stalwarts VSD-Eider were in 17th place. Sylvain Mougin fell on the trek while the team was leading and suffered a gashed shin. The subsequent evacuation by helicopter meant the team was eliminated from the section and, though they could still continue to race without a substitute, they were "penalized" for that section. A tough mountain bike section, followed by another demanding trek under a late afternoon sun gave the racers no respite.

The second day came even earlier with a 05:00 start for most of the teams. Three never made it off the line, suffering understandably from fatigue, having each lost a team member on the first day; among them French giants VSD-Eider and Ertips Salomon. An initial trek and swift canoeing sections allowed some teams to reposition with Nokia, putting in two fast times to compensate for what captain Petri Forsmann considered "a slow day" before. At this stage of the race, most teams were still inside the cut off times but that was to change and determine somewhat the final outcome of the race on the following trek and rope-works section.

Salomon Suisse, going strong at the time, even had to skip the section when they arrived too late for the start. A blow that left them feeling dejected. XA Harrier missed a check point on the trek and picked up a time penalty, which put them out of contention for the top three. Intersport (FR) came off the canoeing section highly motivated, knowing they were pushing the race leaders and eager to make up for a disappointing performance in Scotland in May.

Coming down from the trek into the changeover for the penultimate mountain bike section, Les Arcs-Quechua put in an astonishing time by running vertically down the slope "We came straight down because we knew our most dangerous rivals, Saab, were not far behind,"confided Michel Sibuet-Bequet. Intersport was the next team to clamber down the steep incline to where their mountain bikes were, and set off with Saab Salomon barely seconds behind. Though the rivalry was strong, the ticking clock was the real enemy this time. Both teams made it out onto the section with only minutes to spare and, though they struggled valiantly to catch leaders Les Arcs-Quechua, the reputedly invincible French flagship team and their captain proved once again that they are as strong physically as they are robust mentally.

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—Courtesy of X-Adventure