Gressoney St Jean | IAN CORLESS

Just a week after a stunning second place at the shortened UTMB, Vibram athlete Francesca Canepa turned up at the start of the 2012 Tor des Geants not really knowing what lay in store… lets face it, it is one hell of a challenge!

The route of the 2012 Tor des Géants ran along the Alta Via 1 and Alta Via 2 of the Valle d’Aosta, with the start and finishing line in Courmayeur, and it covered a total of around 336km (200 miles), with an altitude range of 24,000 metres. The landscape at the foot of the region’s Four-Thousanders makes the route especially spectacular.

Along the route they had a number of rest, rescue and refreshment points, as well as seven larger bases that divided the route up into seven sectors:

Courmayeur – Valgrisenche 49 km 3996 D+
Valgrisenche – Cogne 56 km 4141 D+
Cogne – Donnas 44 km 3348 D+
Donnas – Gressoney St Jean 53 km 4107 D+
Gressoney St Jean – Valtournenche 39 km 2601 D+
Valtournenche – Ollomont 44 km 2702 D+
Ollomont – Courmayeur 48 km 2880 D+

The Tor des Géants combines long distance but does not impose any compulsory stages. The winner will be the runner who completes the race in the shortest time and therefore the decisions on when and when not to sleep may very well be the difference between being on top of the podium or not.

The Tor des Géants is the first race of this kind to cover an entire region. It runs along the paths at the foot of the highest Four-Thousanders in the Alps and through the Gran Paradiso Natural Park and the Mont Avic Regional Park. It is a unique race.

Francesca Canepa

So, post UTMB I caught up with Francesca and interviewed her about her race and expectations for the Tor des Géants. You can read that HERE

At this current moment in time I have not had the opportunity to catch up with Francesca but it is important to say that for someone who was going into the race tired and using it as possible ‘training’ she performed remarkably.

Not only did she win the ladies race but she was 7th overall with a total time of 99:13:56. The race winner was Oscar Perez in a time of 75:56:31.