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 acquire.
The course, moving into the other way from the TDS, which runs earlier within the week, traces a sinuous path by 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 at all times a aggressive race on each the boys’s and ladies’s facet, 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 acquire.
It’s also possible to try extra outcomes from the week’s UTMB Mont Blanc competition:
2023 CCC Males’s Race
Jonathan Albon (U.Okay.) ran away with the highest honors at this yr’s CCC by executing what gave the impression to be a measured and well-planned race technique. Ending second within the race in 2022, he had the information 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 sphere not solely by operating quicker, however by being extremely environment friendly within the assist stations. He took on all of his diet and liquid whereas nonetheless standing, refusing to take a seat 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. Recognized for his descending, Albon by no means appeared 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 just below 10 minutes again with a time of 10:22:30.
Dakota Jones enjoys the ending straight on his method 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.Okay.) – 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.Okay.) – 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 opponents. 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, almost 40 minutes up on the following girl.
The 2023 CCC ladies’s champion, Yngvild Kaspersen, coming down the ending chute.
Emily Hawgood (Zimbabwe, lives within the U.S.) isn’t 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 formidable fifth in that jaunt by the California mountains, a a lot completely different surroundings from the CCC course, exhibiting 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 exhibiting 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.
