Lebrun, Erbenova win XTERRA Switzerland Championship
09
Sep
2012
Prangins, Switzerland - Nico Lebrun and Helena Erbenova won the XTERRA Switzerland Championship race and captured the XTERRA European Tour pro titles on a beautiful day for a sold-out field of XTERRA Warriors in Prangins on Saturday.
Lebrun (pictured), a 39-year-old from Digne, France, was seventh out of the water then posted the fastest bike and run splits for a winning time of 2:17:44, just 27-seconds ahead of runner-up Asa Shaw. With the win Lebrun also secured the Euro Tour Championship with 390 points (wins at Italy, Czech, Swiss, and a 2nd place at Germany). Shaw finished second in the series with 380 points (wins at France and Germany, and 2nd place finishes at Czech and Swiss).
It marks the fourth time Lebrun has won the XTERRA European Tour title, and the first time since 2008. The 2005 XTERRA World Champion now has 26 career XTERRA Championship victories since his first at the 2002 XTERRA East Championship in Richmond, VA.
“Today he beat them in their heads,” explained XTERRA managing director Dave Nicholas. “There were four guys within 20-feet of each other coming off the bike. That’s why he’s the professor.”
Aussie Ben Allen had the fastest swim and led the bike early before Shaw, Lebrun, and Olivier Marceau caught up towards the end of the bike. On the run Lebrun took over and Shaw passed Allen for second-place. Allen finished third, followed by Marceau and Francois Carloni in fifth.
“Beautiful day, I had legs and juice,” posted Lebrun to his Facebook page after the race.
ERBENOVA DOMINANT
In just her second year of racing XTERRA Helena Erbenova (pictured) has become a dominant force on the XTERRA European Tour. The 33-year-old from Balatkova competed for the Czech Republic at the 2006 Winter Olympics, and has turned the grittiness learned from battling the cold into XTERRA success.
In her last six starts Erbenova finished a surprising third at the XTERRA World Championship last year, was second at the Euro Tour season-opener in Italy, and has since won four straight at XTERA France, Czech, Germany, and today – Switzerland.
While Erbenova came out of the water a full three minutes after the leaders – Jacqui Slack and Marion Lorblanchet – she crushed the bike (best split by four minutes) and the run (best run by two minutes) and won by nearly four minutes over last year’s Euro Tour Champ Marion Lorblanchet.
After a season spent battling injuries Lorblanchet came in healthy and was impressive for second-place, with XTERRA Italy champ Jacqui Slack in third, Carina Wasle fourth and Lenka Cibulkova fifth.
XTERRA Switzerland Elite Results
Pro Men
Pl Name Nat Time
1 Nico Lebrun FRA 2:17:44
2 Asa Shaw FRA 2:18:12
3 Ben Allen AUS 2:18:36
4 Olivier Marceau SUI 2:21:32
5 Francois Carloni FRA 2:24:24
6 Graham Wadsworth GBR 2:25:16
7 Hector Guerra ESP 2:25:30
8 Patrick Rhyner SUI 2:25:58
9 Jan Kubicek CZE 2:26:26
10 Pierre-Yves Facomprez FRA 2:26:33
Also: Alexander Haas, Jim Thijs
Pro Women
Pl Name Country Time
1 Helena Erbenova CZE 2:38:35
2 Marion Lorblanchet FRA 2:42:27
3 Jacqui Slack GBR 2:43:54
4 Carina Wasle AUT 2:47:47
5 Lenka Cibulkova CZE 2:56:11
6 Laetitia Moreau FRA 3:01:56
LEBRUN, ERBENOVA WIN EURO TOUR TITLES
Lebrun and Erbenova put exclamation points on fantastic seasons today in Switzerland. Pros counted their best four finishes in the five-stop Tour. Here’s a look at the top five in this years XTERRA European Tour. Complete standings with age group champions will be posted soon at www.xterraeurope.com.
Pos Name ITA FRA CZE GER SUI TOT
1 Nico Lebrun, FRA 100 d82 100 90 100 390
2 Asa Shaw, FRA x 100 90 100 90 380
3 Alexander Haas, GER 82 90 82 69 d41 323
4 Ben Allen, AUS 90 49 69 d41 82 290
5 Francois Carloni, FRA 63 63 x 63 69 258
Pos Name ITA FRA CZE GER SUI TOT
1 Helena Erbenova, CZE d90 100 100 100 100 400
2 Jacqui Slack, GBR 100 82 75 0 82 339
3 Carina Wasle, AUT d69 75 90 75 75 315
4 Maud Golsteyn, NED 75 58 82 82 x 297
5 Lenka Cibulkova, CZE x x 69 58 69 196
Next on the XTERRA World Tour: The XTERRA Switzerland Championship is one of 16 major XTERRA World Tour events, and the last stop on the XTERRA European Tour. Up next, the XTERRA USA Championship to conclude the America Tour on Sept. 22, then on to XTERRA Worlds in Maui.
Feb 26 XTERRA South Africa Championship, Grabouw, Western Cape
Mar 10 XTERRA Guam Championship, Piti
Mar 18 XTERRA Philippines Championship, Cebu
Mar 24 XTERRA Saipan Championship, Northern Marianas
Apr 14 XTERRA New Zealand Championship, Rotorua
May 27 XTERRA Italy Championship*, Orosei, Sardinia
July 8 XTERRA France Championship*, Xonrupt, Gerardmer
July 15 XTERRA Brazil Championship, Manaus, Amazon
Aug 4 XTERRA Czech Championship*, Prachatice, South Bohemia
Aug 4 XTERRA Mexico Championship, Tapalpa, Jalisco
Aug 11 XTERRA Germany Championship*, Zittau
Aug 25 XTERRA Japan Championship, Marunuma
Sept 2 XTERRA Canada Championship, Canmore, A.B.
Sept 8 XTERRA Switzerland*, Prangins
Sept 22 XTERRA USA Championship, Ogden/Snowbasin, UT
Oct 28 XTERRA World Championship, Maui
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