Note
Race day! I was lucky to be able to go with the Salomon manager who had the pass to cross the plateau and give Marc his refreshment at all the aid stations. Without the pass you have to drive really far around and it's not possible to get to all the spots in time, especially at the speed the best are running. I got to see Marc 7 times during the race. The first 46km went really really well with him and we all thought he was capable of winning, especially because the last 30km were more technical and steeper. But he had never run longer than 55km, so no one really knew what would happen, including me. Unfortunately, he had some muscle pain already early on that I guess is from the Salmonella that we got 3 weeks ago (since he lost 2kgs which probably was mostly muscle) and then he also had trouble with his stomach starting around km 50. So he stayed in 3rd place until almost the finish. Just before the finish at the last major climb, one guy managed to pass him and Marc's muscles were shot, so he couldn't counter and ended up 4th. A really amazing performance for the first time he has ever run this far and also with a sub optimal preparation. He was hurting afterward;-)