Winner of the Garmin Alpen Triathlon

Four days after I left Poitier where I won my 3rd national title, I headed up to Germany to compete in the 25th edition of the prestigious Garmin Alpen Triathlon.

This event also doubled as the  BundesLiga grand final.

A transition area in between lake and mountains

I already competed there last year and took the silver medal behind my good mate Will Clarke from Britain. Just like the 2012 French Champs, Schliersee is an old school triathlon with a one lap very hilly bike and a run in the middle of stunning mountains.

Final climb with Will Clarke

The bike leg consists of 40k with 4 hills finishing with a 5k climb followed by a roller coaster 10k off road at 1100m altitude.

In the lead with Will Clarke up the last climb

In the breakaway with Will Clarke in the last hill, I won the race after a little bit more than 2h in front of the German Olympian Christian Prochnow and my french team mate Tony Moulai.
Right at the finish I was delighted to taste the Kaisersmarren, a local speciality which is pretty much a massive thick pancake.

The podium of the day.

Without any doubt it was a great reward for all the 1000 athletes who competed but also a good way to short cut the beginning of a bonk.

With my win and the performance of Jonny Zipf, David Hauss, Patrick Lange and Will Clarke my German Team EJOT won the German Team Championship title.

1/ Laurent Vidal (FRA) 2h00min39sec
2/ Christian Prochnow (GER) 2h00min59sec
3/ Tony Moulai (FRA) 2h01min31sec
4/ Jonathan Zipf (GER) 2h01min36sec
5/ David Hauss (FRA) 2h02min16sec

In the woman's race, it's also a french who won as Charlotte Morel crossed the finish line ahead of Simic (SVL) and Mueller (GER).

Team EJOT

Next stop Yokohama and Auckland for the last two events of the World Triathlon Series but first I will spend some time with my friends and family.
Cheers,
Laurent.

Photos courtesy of Team EJOT

2012 French Champion

It's almost a month since the Olympic race is over.
After the race, I had a week off in London where I did everything apart from exercising.
It was really enjoyable to support all the athletes competing in other events but also to chill out around the Olympic Village and of course party at night.
After the closing ceremony, I flew back to the South of france where I restarted training and I spent time with my friends and family.
If I judge by the amount of solicitations and extra attention I have got since London, I can be sure that the Olympic race was a great opportunity for the development of our sport in France.
The race was broadcasted on French TV with a Market share around 27% and an average of TV viewers during the 2hrs of 2 700 000!
The first few weeks back in france were pretty busy with PR and media commitments on top of the training but I really appreciated the extra attention to be part of the process to help triathlon grow in France.

I probably underestimated this post olympic factor leading into the Stockholm World Triathlon Series where I was useless.
I was there but my mind wasn't, I really didn't have the right attitude required to perform at that level of racing.
I knew that physically I was good but it's not enough in high performance, I DNF a race that I should't have started. I was a bit annoyed with myself and for the french team but fortunately my team mates did a great job and they managed to win the silver medal in the World Mixed Relay Championship.

I really enjoyed supporting Jess, Carole, Tony and Vincent, what a remarkable effort they did!

Champion de France- Photo: B.Regoli

A week later, I drove 700k accross France to compete in our National Championship.
Stockholm was a good wake up call and I lead into that race really relaxed and excited about it.
The French championships is never easy as France has some of the finest world class triathletes and the expectations are high when you turn up as the defending champion and recently 5th at the Olympics.
I started the race aggressively exiting 2nd out of the water and breaking away on the bike with 5 of us. The old school cycling course was tough, our lead extended to one minute at the 30k mark but we lost lots of time in the last 10km starting the run with a little head start of 17sec on a 30plus chase pack.

I knew I was in a tricky position but after a painfull first 500m, I managed to extend my lead and finally won my 3rd french champion title after 1h53min of racing.

During the cycling leg- Photo: B.Regoli

Results:
    •    1 VIDAL laurent 01:53:30
    •    2 MOULAI tony 01:54:10
    •    3 ROUAULT gregory 01:54:10
    •    4 RAPHAEL aurelien 01:54:19
    •    5 DIEMUNSCH etienne 01:54:40

The podium - Photo: JN Mahey

Next week I will be on the start line in Schliersee (GER) for the prestigious Garmin Alpen Triathlon, Final of the bundesliga.
Then I will head to Japan and New Zealand for the last two round of the World Triathlon Series.
Take care.
Laurent