Mont-Dore: Time for Revolt

Yellow definitely suits the Massif du Sancy so well. After the jersey won there on the Grande Boucle by Ben Healy on July 14, Fabien Bourgeon gleaned one of his greatest, if not the greatest, successes of his career at Mont-Dore. To say that this victory was predictable, even though each of the previous rounds had ended in epic, knife-edge denouements between the strongest men in the discipline, was more of a stretch than a clear prediction. Already crowned with his second national crown since Dunières, Marc Pernot could have afforded to approach the second Auvergne round of the season with less pressure. But that was without counting on his thirst for victory, fueled by the goal of becoming the second rider in history after Nicolas Schatz in 2016 to achieve the Grand Slam. Another Grand Slam, however, will not come right away.

Revenge in Auvergne

As was the case in 2024, the weather forecasts for the weekend were very optimistic and could have suggested that the historical benchmarks could not be reached. This was indeed the case, and the two days of competition took place under a blazing sun. Marc Pernot was, as is often the case, the quickest to draw during the tests and saw Fabien Bourgeon return on the first climb of the race. The Doubs native had made a habit since the start of the season of showing his teeth on Sunday morning in order to deliver the fatal blow to his opponent at the end of the day, but it is clear that in the Sancy, the mountain cannibal was caught in his own trap. It's simple: Fabien Bourgeon did not leave a single crumb to Marc Pernot, signing the 1 Scratch times of the race heats. At the finish, the Rhone rider had reason to be proud: "This victory rewards all the work done with the team over the last few months, we didn't give up and we wanted to win at least one this season," he said on the podium. The success was almost total for the Pont-de-Vaux firm, since Maxime Dojat secured another podium by climbing to 4rd place, also at the wheel of a Revolt 3P3. The young man had achieved the feat of beating Bourgeon at Dunières by finishing second behind Marc Pernot.

Trifecta winner

The Production category also promised some great battles. In addition to the Dubois / Poinsignon / Ganevat trio, Nicolas Ciamin, 2022 French Rally Vice-Champion, was also expected. The latter quickly proved the full extent of his talent, even though Mont-Dore was his very first career hill climb: the Nice native climbed to 3rd place in the hierarchy during the first practice climb, a performance he repeated during the weekend, ultimately finishing 1th, half a second off the podium. Championship leader Anthony Dubois ended the first day in the lead, but competed on Sunday morning with Yannick Poinsignon at his best. Ultra consistent, the two-time reigning French Champion only needed one climb, the second, to open up a decisive gap in the overall ranking of the two best rounds against Dubois. So Poinsignon is now credited with 4 victories this season: "This one is certainly and by far the most beautiful of this year," he confessed during the awards ceremony. Poinsignon and Dubois found Jean-François Ganevat on the podium: the driver of the Renault RS01 managed at the last minute to save its place among the Top 3 of the usual hierarchy of the category. Also noteworthy is the victory in VHC Sport of Nicolas Defix and Gregory Mollon in VHC Production, a championship which now knows the name of its 2025 winner: Alexandre Chamagne, as in 2024. For the rest of the season, it is in the Haut-Rhin that it will continue at Turckheim – Trois-Epis in three weeks.