With storms forecast for later on in the afternoon a shorter 66km task was set taking the pilots on a triangular tour of the flats. There were good, wide thermals, often with punchy cores giving strong climbs. Buoyant lifty lines meant that the leaders didn’t have to stop to climb much. Helpful cloud streets marked the thermals.
For Chris Bevins it was more like flying in Colombia than the Alps. Out in the flats there were climbs that kicked off low down, letting the pilots push more in the flats than they have done so far this week.
It was a struggle across the flats towards the end but there was a thermal just before the factory that worked. Seb Ospina and Stephan Morgenthaler managed to pull away from the others and the race to End of Speed was on. Stephan crossed ESS 13 seconds ahead of Seb.
Task five was the day that the World Cup went to the opera as the lead gaggle arrived in goal three minutes later to the dramatic sound of ‘The Ride of the Valkyries.’ Very befitting music for another day of dramatic racing.
Jose Rebelo summed up the day in three words: Fun and Fast.
The average speed of Stephan Morgenthaler, the fastest pilot round the course, was 36.1, making it the fastest race of the week so far.
The first 95 pilots made goal, and thus all flew the same distance, and gained the same distance points. Today’s winner is therefore the one with a combination of the best speed/time points and lead out points.
Top 3 speed/time points winners – the fastest pilots round the course:
01:33:41: Stephan Morgenthaler
01:33:54: Seb Ospina
01:34:37: Julien Wirtz
Top 3 leading point baggers – those who were in the lead the most:
