The 3rd stop of the EuroTour: Vendee Gliss Event presented by Rogue took place in beautiful Saint Jean de Monts, France from May 18-20th. France is home of some of the biggest racing talent in Europe and has a country sponsor in F-One, supporting the tour through all the French races.
Vendee Gliss celebrated its second race edition, and the first one with EuroTour, but it looked more like a veteran event with a great setup that our hosts, captained by Philippe, and his entire crew provided. The event started on Friday evening with the riders meeting in the Office of Tourism.
Saturday Morning saw several buses take the athletes to the starting point while the equipment was being transported by several trucks. Because of the oceanic nature of the event and the fact that in France the laws are pretty strict the event had 16boats for 80 participants to ensure everyone’s safety. However mother nature can’t be tamed and the conditions were not as windy as originally anticipated resulting in the original island crossing not being possible. A beautiful back-up course along the coast for 23.7km provided plenty of challenges to all participants. The first 10km saw quite a nice downwind, with the second half having a mix of conditions to eventually conclude with a flat water finish.
As the first of the Grand Slam races of the EuroTour, with a total prize money of 12,000E, Vendee Gliss also had live coverage of the event, providing fans and spectators a front row seat of all the action. No-one is better suited for the job than #BossMan himself Chris Parker from SupRacer/PaddleLeague who has always been an integral part of the EuroTour running all of our live broadcasts since the beginning.
The main event started on Saturday afternoon with fantastic summer weather that saw a beautiful mass start of all the participants. The hot favourites for the event Frenchwoman Olivia Piana(425PRO) and New Caledonia’s finest Titouan Puyo (NSP/QB) claimed the overall wins with vintage performances.
The Women’s race saw one of the most competitive fields of the season with quite a large Elite participation. One of the new faces on the International scene was Frenchwoman Fanny Tessier(F-One) who had a very impressive performance with her recently signed sponsor and came 6th, very close behind one of the favourites – from The Netherlands Petronella Van Malsen, 5th. Emma Reijmerink (Fanatic) didn’t disappoint by claiming 4th after a very close race once again. From Germany youngster Noelani Sach (NSP) put on a very impressive performance overpowering the Dutch duo claiming 3rd place.
The two talents from France, Olivia Piana and Amandine Chazot didn’t disappoint and controlled the whole race from beginning to end. Amandine Chazot (Starboard) was in the runner up spot and while she kept a close distance in the downwind part was simply out gunned by event winner Olivia Piana (425PRO) who stablished an unattainable lead from the race start claiming the win and making a strong statement towards the EuroTour crown.
In the Men’s race a very solid field with all of France’s finest (probably equalling the strongest in Europe) and a strong array of International competitors who were ready to claim some scalps. A strong contender in every event Ludovic Teulade, France, was determined to get on the podium and claim the last in the money to finish 10th place just edging out Brazil’s fresh face in the international scene Arthur SantaCreu. One of the most consistent athletes on tour Italy’s best Leo Nika(Starboard) came in 9th place assuring he would stay on the coveted podium.
Recently graduated from the Junior ranks the French duo of Martin Vitry (SIC) and Tom Auber (Fanatic) came 8th and 7th place respectively, showing their consistency. Brazil’s most International talent, and one of the most mellow guys off the water, Vinicius Martins was in his element on the downwind part staying with the leaders, only to fade slightly in the gruelling flats but finished a super solid 6th place and claiming his best result on tour this season. All the way from New Zealand and proving to be one of the stronger guys of 2018 Marcus Hansen (NSP/QB) who was out-sprinted at the end to finish a solid 5th. A hot favourite in these long challenging conditions Frenchman Arthur Arutkin (Fanatic) looked like claiming one of the top spots, but was overrun in the flat section by the Hasulyo powerhouses. The two brothers from Hungary were very impressive on the last section of the course, and outran all but one name. Daniel Hasulyo (Starboard) especially, powered his way to 3rd place with a pretty amazing effort coming back from quite a distance behind the leading group. His brother Bruno Hasulyo (Starboard) also showed that his performances last season were no fluke by finishing 2nd and virtually gaining ground on the leader in the last moments of the race.
The day however belonged to no one else than Titouan Puyo (NSP/QB). the New Caledonian had the most dominant performance of the tour so far this season by leading from start to finish. On the bumps he was clearly ahead, but even when the going got tough, he didn’t relinquish the lead. The fact that he finished the 23.7km course in 2:15 time is a testament of where the level is these days for the top athletes.
After the race the organiser had a welcome surprise in the shape of a “hot seat” Jacuzzi were all the media conducted their interviews. The closing ceremony followed shortly after on the beach podium where all the city officials, spectators as well as the athletes gathered together. We don’t have enough nice words to say about Philippe and his entire crew by being unreal hosts, also our race director Xavier for doing a great job as well as all the sponsors for making it possible. Photographers Laurent Nevarez for the great pics. Thomas Vincent & Florent Mouillon for the great clip and Stephane Debuire & Muriel Vanderbempt for their footage.
Results Vendee Gliss Event
Vídeo Vendee Gliss Event
Source: EuroTour