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.Actually, this is the key question  isn't it ? Sébastien Chaigneau's answer is clear : "You can beat him, only if he has both legs in plaster, and is on a wheel chair. And even then, you can't be sure... Joking aside, I don't try to beat him. He is much too strong. Two years ago I was able to catch up with him for 800 m, and this year, a little more... This is quite a great performance. In addition to great physiological capacities, his biggest strength is his extensive knowledge of the mountain. He seems to merge with it." What about Iker Karrera ? "I don't even think about it. First because he is younger and at the same time more experienced, and essentially because the most important for me is to be in the same team and being by their side, keep on improving."

With three victories out of three participations, Kilian Jornet seems out of reach. Yet he doesn't see things this way : "I have lost some races like the Western States last year. Anyway, victory is not my priority. It was a very competitive race with unstable weather conditions, which had the course modified in some places. For those reasons I didn't want to run by myself. Victory was not the priority. I experienced great moments running all those km with friends. We enjoyed incredible moments, especially at the top of the col de la Seigne. Ultra-trail is made of that kind of magic, that inner quest, difficulties which lead to draw in your mental ressources to keep on going. And, when you can share those things, it's even better."

When you refer to Kilian Jornet's first two victories and look at the large time differences between him and his seconds, those nine minutes between him and Iker Karrera really seem tiny. Yet the Spanish runner never thought of the first place : "The end was still hilly and I didn't want  to take a chance to burn out. Especially since this was my first participation to such a long race. I didn't know how  I would react if I tried to push my pace faster, but I finished well and do hope to go on this way."

It is one of the paradoxes of the race : Sébastien Chaigneau was happier of his third place this year than of his second in 2009. "I have lived a strange race, a mix of a street struggle and an "off" race with training friends. Kilian, whom I sometimes have the pleasure to go training with, would fly ahead before waiting for us while making his shoelaces. And ranking is a bit anecdotic compared to the sensations during the race, and good vibrations with the spectators. For all those reasons I would have been happy to share that third place with Miguel, for he realised a real big job in the lead before he had to stop." 

Second feminine, Néré Martinez Urruzola has no regrets : "Lizzy Hawker is simply the best feminine runner in the world. I understood very early that I couldn't catch her up, on the contrary, I had many difficulties to finish the race. My legs were so heavy that I couldn't help myself looking behind me."

Darcy Piceu was very happy of her third place : "I was exhausted after the Hard Rock. I knew I was very demanding with my body, after a raceof this kind which is a lot like the UTMB. That is why I think I have felt tired for a long time during the race before the km 130 when I felt a new alchemy. It is only then that I began to run better, which eventually allowed me to be on the podium."