Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

ENDURO GILLES LALAYCLASSIC ENDURO • By Geoff Meyer LIMOGE, FRANCE, FEB. 25 onda-mounted Cyril Esquirol of France could well have felt a little cheated as he climbed from his machine after scoring a third place in this year's Gilles Lalay Classic. While third place in such an event is something to feel good about, for him it was a story of so close, yet so far. Esquirol had led the complete day's. action from the early-morning qualification up until the clock rang at 9:20, only 10 minutes before the event would finish at the top of a place called Dead Crow Hill. "rt was my fault," Esquirol said. "I hit a rock with my chain and it broke, then it took a long time for my crew to get help to me, but yes, I am very sorry." The eventual winner, Kawasaki rider Laurent Charbonnel, finished some five minutes ahead of second-placed David Castera and a further five minutes ahead of Esquirol. But his win on a course that he, in fact, designed was very much a hollow one. Like every year, the 220 riders set out from the city of Limoge - no thick clouds, snow-covered hills or ice-rid- • dled trails - this year's event was run in fantastic conditions. But still it was an event· many did not complete. Even the great Stephane Peterhansel struggled; sure enough, he made it to the finish, but under extreme pain and suffering. The first riders·to leave Limoge were, of course, the star-studded internationals - Giovanni Sala, three-time World Champion; Anders Eriksson, two-time World champ; Peterhansel, five-time Dakar winner and most successful !SDE rider over the past 10 years, and Esquirol, the two-time winner of the GLC and riding for the huge France Honda team. Then, of course, there was 1996 winner Charbonnel and a long list of possible challengers, but once the action started, it was KTM-mounted Christian Boulet, World Enduro regular, who took the first of the four specials, his time of four minutes and 8.33 seconds just better than Charbonnel, who clocked in with 4:12.62, followed by Castera, Esquirol, Laurent Pidoux and Eric Bernard. With five French riders leading the way, it was looking ominous for the likes of Sala and' Eriksson, who finished eighth and 14th, respectively. "I have been told the course is very difficult, so I'll take it a little slow," Sala said. "I want to be there at the end, not now." With his smile still intact, Sala was not worried by his place. As for Peterhansel, his 16th place was not a true indication of his performance as he lost time in a pit mixup. • The slight Esquirol was soon to make his charge, though. The second special was his ahead of Charbonnel, Peterhansel, Bernard and Boulet. Sala and (Above) Laurent Charbonnel scored the overall win at the sixth running of the Gilles Lelay Classic Enduro in France. (Left) Cyril Esqulrol had led the entire event until breaking his chain 10 minutes from the flnish. He still salvaged third. Eriksson were yet to challenge the might of France. In fact, Eriksson could only claim 18th place. With the GLC just hours old, the Swe,dish rider was found wanting. "It's only early, but it's always tough here," he said. "The French are on home . ground and I am not." Stage three, and again Esquirol showed he is determined to reclaim the GLC crown. "I want to win for sure," he said. "The early times mean nothing, but I'm riding well and with that comes good, fast specials." This time Bernard - the star of the final round of the world enduro championships back in September and Dakar rally rookie - scored second, just quick enough to edge out Charbonnel, Sala and Peterhansel and, yes, World champ Eriksson again failed with a 17th place. The last of the morning specials was held in the hills above Peyra t- Le Chateau and a huge spectator turnout gave the sometimes extrovert Esquirol the chance to really show off his talents, his winning time well ahead 6f Peterhansel, Bernard, Sala and Boulet. When the morning's times were added, it was Esquirol who was the best qualifier with a total of 18:32.58, while Bernard was next with 18:39.68, followed by Charbonnel, Sala and Boulet. Peterhansel was penalized for breaking one of the rules and receiving help from his crew, dropping him from sixth to 20th, a position that could well have been difficult to recover from on the tough afternoon course. With the riders a little freshened up, it was back into action with again the special above Peyrat-Le Chateau play-. ing host to Esquirol's skills. While the morning winner led the riders, it was the brilliant Peterhansel who blasted his Yamaha past several of the competitors and into fourth place after only one hour of action. "I knew 1 needed to make up some time or it would only get harder, but it's left me tiied," Peterhansel said of his early charge. Despite the knowledge that Charbon- , nel had been the man to make out the course (as he has done every year), Esquirol looked in totally dominant form, arriving at the not-so-muddy valleys and blasting through with ease, while his followers only seemed to find the area of mud that would swallow the complete bike. "I was stuck up to my armpits and could not get out," said British ISDE rider Wyn Hughes, who was carried from his machine in somewhat worse than normal state, .his arms and legs locked in severe cramp. "I could not get my hands off the handlebars, it was horrible." His GLC finished on stage three. It was not only the Welsh mud lover who was troubled by the course. Peterhansel sunk down to his taillight and was not finding the mud as forgiving as the thick Sahara sands. I "Twenty minutes I tried to get out of one area," Peterhansel said. "It left me totally drained." His mud riding always was a question, but still he carried on. If it's one thing you do not question about the Dakar king, it's his desire to win the GLe. Following Esquirol was Charbonnel. His 1996 charge on Peterhansel will long live in the memories of the French crowds, and this year they were out in force to support him. . "I got a lot of help last year," said Charbonnel, a longtime friend of Lalay. "It gives me a lot of happiness to win here. Charbonnel, while a long way back from Esquirol, was not so far ahead of Castera, who was looking likely to make some type of charge on second place. "I could see Laurent and I knew the crowd was probably giving him more support than they gave me," "Charbonnel said. "But the people in France are not against me; it worked out okay." Still, as Charbonnel would enter a steep hill, the crowd would give him the number-one sign, while Castera would get little of anything. By the time the GLC had reached its halfway stage (for the evening), Esquirol was at least 10 minutes ahead of Charborinel, and in this event 10 minutes may as well be 10 hours. Making up seconds in the darkness was nearly impossible. Charbonnel could only hope for an error by Esquirol and the way the Honda rider was performing, it looked like an impossible wish. With the hours ticking away and total darkness giving the riders near to no chance of seeing the now-huge mud patches, slowly but surely, the slower competitors dropped like flies. Of the 100 qualifiers, only a little over 30 remained. Most had been pulled up by the officials. Another Welsh mud lover; Rob Smith, was not so unhappy to be given an early mark. . '. "It's .fair enough," he said. "Once you're around an hour behind the leader, then they pull you out. With the darkness, it's the only fair thing to do,

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