Today I got the start right. On time. At the right place. With the right guys. During the first transition, and the first transition only, I experienced again this cool feeling of leading the pack. Anyway, the race is won after the last glide, not at the end of the first one. We had an interesting task to complete, turning clockwise around the Ibituruna Peak, let’s go.

Now that I have solved the start issue, what will be next? I am flying full speed almost all of the time, which is our regular rythm as soon as the average vario of the days exceeds 2m/s. So no trouble there. My transition lines are more or less OK, maybe I am not feeling all the information present in the air. So that could be a topic for improvement. But clearly, when speed and transition lines are fine, the next important question is about climbing. And this, clearly, is not my area of excellence here. Meanwhile, it usually is one of my best skills. Maybe a matter of feeling to improve or restore.

I catched up the tail of the leading group by short-circuiting over Ibiturina when going to the last turnpoint. At the next thermal I did not choose the right core, first mistake, and left, second mistake, only to see my ex-colleagues like Charles climbing like rockets when I had a look over my shoulder. I started this glide tip to tip with Olivier, only to arrive 3 steps lower in the next thermal. A good 3m/s for Olivier, a ugly 0,5m/s for me. That cost me 10 out of the 15 minutes delay I have on Yassen, the winner of the day.

To somehow raise the stakes for the last 20km, I ended racing with the girls: Daria, Klaudia, Petra and Keiko. That gave me a kind of motivation to finish properly the task. This beautiful terrain and this excellent weather require permanent attention, which does not seem to match my actual condition.