Belgian and French win GFNY Villard de Lans after 3973m of climbing

Vince Mattens and Alison Chavanon prevail on the spectacular 163.4km course

The mountainous Vercors national park hosted the second edition of GFNY Villard de Lans this past Sunday. The long challenging racecourse was 163.4 km with an elevation gain of 3973 m.

After the neutralized descent from the start in the ski resort, the attacks started as soon as the race was opened. On the first climb up to Col de la Croix Perrin, fifteen riders made the lead group which was racing five minutes ahead of the fastest time table.

Always active at the front, French rider Loic Ruffaut attacked successfully with Belgian Vince Mattens (Team Kaffee-In) and GFNY Lourdes champion Julien Berard (France) latching on. The pace remains high with the leaders racing 20 minutes ahead of fastest schedule and 10 minutes ahead of a 20 rider chase group.

Ruffaut and Mattens keep pushing each other and it’s on the final col before the climb up to the ski resort that Mattens is able to open a 10 second gap on Ruffaut – enough to bring the race home. Frenchman Sam Maisonobe rounded out the podium.

In the female race, Alison Chavanon took the win in 5:35:59, 1 minute ahead of GFNY Cannes champion Delphine Reinert. Laurence Reviglio rounded out the all french podium after the three of them rode much of the day together and attacked each other any chance given.

Link to 2023 GNFY Villard de Lan Results: https://gfny.cc/results/2023/vdl

Next up on the GFNY calendar is the second edition of GFNY Lourdes Tourmalet which will take place Sunday, June 11, 2023.