The Triathlon EDF Alpe d'Huez, named after its sponsor EDF, was established in 2006 by Cyrille Neveu (born 1973), Long Distance Triathlon World Champion of the year 2002,[1] not to be confused with the multiple Rallye Dakar winner Cyril Neveu. Right from the beginning it has been one of the most prestigious and most popular French triathlons among the non ITU and non FFTRI competitions.
The Alpe d'Huez triathlon starts at the reservoir Lac du Verney and features the famous 21 Tour de France bends climbing up 1120 m to the ski resort Alpe d'Huez.
In 2009, the long distance triathlon attracted 671 sportsmen and sportswomen (516 finishers) and the short distance triathlon boasted 839 participants (749 finishers), 62 percent of them were French. In 2010 the start list reached a new record with 1150 short distance participants and 943 long distance participants on 15 July, i.e. two weeks before the triathlon.
Most of the Alpe d'Huez winners are international elite stars, especially on the long distance. In 2007 and in 2008 Chrissie Wellington placed first and in 2009 Nicola Spirig won gold. On the short distance, four French triathletes could win the gold medal: Delphine Pelletier, Hervé Faubre, Bertrand Billard, and Frédéric Belaubre. Charlotte Morel, the French U23 Champion of the years 2009 and 2010, placed first on the sprint distance in 2007. In 2008 she won the sprint triathlon in Vaujany and the courte distance (1200+30+7) triathlon in Alpe d'Huez in 2008. In the following years, however, she was dogged by misfortune: in 2009, starting as the natural favourite for the gold medal, she was involved in a bicycle crash right at the beginning, and in 2010 due to health problems she could not take part in the race.
Contents |
Year | Sprint | CD = Courte Distance | LD = Longue Distance | ||||||
Date | Male Winner | Female Winner | Date | Male Winner | Female Winner | Date | Male Winner | Female Winner | |
2006 | - | - | - | 2 August 2006 | Reinaldo COLUCCI | Delphine PELLETIER | - | - | - |
2007 | 29 July 2007 | Julien LOY | Charlotte MOREL | 2 August 2007 | Hervé FAUBRE | Tameka DAY | 1 August 2007 | Reinaldo COLUCCI | Chrissie WELLINGTON |
2008 | 27 July 2008 | Julien LOY | Charlotte MOREL | 31 July 2008 | Bertrand BILLARD | Charlotte MOREL[2] | 30 July 2008 | Marcus ORNELLAS | Chrissie WELLINGTON |
2009 | ? | ? | ? | 30 July 2009 | Frédéric BELAUBRE | Eva JANSSEN | 29 July 2009 | Massimo CIGANA | Nicola SPIRIG |
2010 | - | - | - | 29 July 2010 | Alberto CASADEI | Eva JANSSEN | 28 July 2010 | James CUNNAMA | Jodie SWALLOW |
2011 | - | - | - | 28 July 2011 | Tim DON | Nicola SPIRIG | 27 July 2011 | Victor DEL CORRAL | Catriona MORRISON |