The Triathlon EDF Alpe d'Huez, named after its sponsor

Électricité de France Électricité de France S.A. (literally ''Electricity of France''), commonly known as EDF, is a French multinational electric utility company, largely owned by the French state. Headquartered in Paris, with €71.2 billion in revenues in 2 ...

(EDF), was established in 2006 by World Triathlon Champion .See http://www.triathlon.org/athletes/profile/cyrille_neveu. Retrieved 30 July 2010.Cyrille Neveu (born 1973), Long Distance Triathlon World Champion of the year 2002, not to be confused with the multiple Rallye Dakar winner

Cyril Neveu Cyril Neveu (born 20 September 1956 in Orléans, France) is a French former professional motocross, enduro and rally raid racer. He is notable for winning the motorcycle division of the Dakar Rally The Dakar Rally (or simply "The Dakar"; fo ...

. It is not sanctioned by the

International Triathlon Union World Triathlon, previously known as the International Triathlon Union (ITU), is the international governing body for the multi-sport disciplines of triathlon, duathlon, aquathlon and other nonstandard variations. World Triathlon hosts the top ...

(ITU) or Fédération Française de Triathlon (FFTRI). The long course event comprises a 2.2 km swim, a 115 km cycle and a 22 km run. It starts with the swim at the reservoir

Lac du Verney Lac du Verney is an artificial reservoir in the department of Isère, in the Rhône-Alpes of France. It serves as the lower reservoir for the Grand'Maison Dam pumped-storage scheme. Neighbouring lakeside communities include Oz and Allemond. Si ...

then the cycling features the 21 bends used by the

Tour de France The Tour de France () is an annual men's multiple-stage bicycle race primarily held in France, while also occasionally passing through nearby countries. Like the other Grand Tours (the Giro d'Italia and the Vuelta a España), it consists ...

as it climbs 1120 m to the ski resort of

Alpe d'Huez L'Alpe d'Huez () is a ski resort in southeastern France at . It is a mountain pasture in the Central French Western Alps, in the commune of Huez, which is part of the department of Isère in the region of Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes. It is part of th ...

for the run.

History

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 Christine Ann Wellington (born 18 February 1977) is an English former professional triathlete and four-time Ironman Triathlon World Champion. She holds, or held, all three world and championship records relating to ironman-distance triathlon ...

placed first and in 2009

Nicola Spirig Nicola Spirig Hug (born 7 February 1982) is a Swiss lawyer and former professional triathlete. She is the 2012 Olympic and six times European champion in women's triathlon. Career Nicola Spirig is a five times Olympian. She was Olympic champion ...

won gold. On the short distance, four French triathletes could win the gold medal:

Delphine Pelletier Delphine Pelletier (born 16 June 1977 in Bourges) is an athlete from France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in t ...

, Hervé Faubre, Bertrand Billard, and

Frédéric Belaubre Fred (Frédéric) Belaubre (born 14 February 1980 in Poissy), is a French professional triathlete. He was the European Champion of the years 2005, 2006, and 2008, the French Champion of the years 2007 and 2010. Belaubre took part in two Olympic ...

Charlotte Morel Charlotte Morel (born 16 January 1989 in Draguignan, Var), is a French professional triathlete, twelve times National Champion in various duathlon and triathlon categories (''cadette, junior, espoir''), e.g. National U23 Triathlon Champio ...

, 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.

Alpe d'Huez Triathlon Winners

Gallery

file:Cyrille_Neveu_1.jpg, Cyrille Neveu, the creator of the Triathlon de l'Alpe d'Huez. file:Eva_Janssen_1.jpg, Eva Janssen, short distance winner of the Triathlon de l'Alpe d'Huez in 2009 and 2010. file:Alberto Casadei_1.jpg, Alberto Casadei, short distance winner of the Triathlon de l'Alpe d'Huez 2010. file:Francesc_Godoy_2.jpg, Francesc Godoy, silver medalist of the Triathlon de l'Alpe d'Huez 2010. file:Camille_Donat_3.jpg, Camille Donat, 2009 silver medalist, placing 7th at the Triathlon de l'Alpe d'Huez 2010. file:Charlotte_Morel_9.jpg, Charlotte Morel, a spectator in 2010.

History

Alpe d'Huez Triathlon Winners

Gallery

Notes

References

External links