Perfect weekend for Bart Swings at the Trophée des 3 pistes 2019

The legendary Trophée des 3 pistes was held last weekend in France.

By Jackob Savard

Photos: Darren de Souza

Some of the best inline skaters in the world took part in the classic Trophée des 3 pistes last weekend, a three days competition held on three different tracks in France. The aspiring Trophy winners had to perform well in six events. (5000m, 3x3000m, 3000m, elimination race, 1000m and 10000m with cash bonuses).

Bart Swings unbeatable

Belgian Bart Swings skating for Powerslide was simply perfect all weekend long winning all six events of the competition. The Powerslide train of Valentin Thiebault, Felix Rijhnen and Timothy Loubineaud controlled the pack and safely brought their leader to the sprint in every race. Swings always ended the work with uncatchable accelerations to confirm his wins. It was Swings’ first victory at the Trophée des 3 pistes. In the overall ranking, Nolan Beddiaf from EOSKATES finished 2nd as he collected five 2nd place results during the six events of the weekend. Diogo Marreiros who has been one of the best skaters in the world this season finished 3rd. He seemed less in control in the tactical tracks of Pibrac, Valence and Gujan-Mestras then in Lagos or Geisingen but was still really strong.  Timothy Loubineaud from Powerslide and Victor Aerts from Valence finished 4th and 5th.

Tight fight in the ladies’ competition

On the ladies’ side, it was tight untill the last race as the first four skaters finished with 16, 17, 18 and 19 points. After six distances, young Marie Dupuy from EOSKATES won the overall classification. Dupuy, who is skating in her first senior year, got top 6 in every races and won three of them. Juliette Pouydebat from Pibrac took the 2nd overall position, Marine Lefeuvre from EOSKATES the 3rd and Colombian Aura Quintana the 4th. Mathilde Pedronno from Bont, also at her first year in the senior category, took the 5th place winning one distance and finishing 3rd twice. A little lack of consistency hurt her for the overall victory, but she was very strong.

Two original events made the show

Adding to the awesome performances of the skaters, two original events contributed in making the 2019 Trophée des 3 pistes a spectacular competition. A 3x3000m event was raced on the first day in Pibrac. The combined results of the three 3000m would crown a winner for the distance, but every round, a number of skaters were eliminated based on their result to have a third round with only 20 skaters. It was a crazy event that showcased new strategies and massive sprints. To end the competition, the last race was a 10000m with prize money every 5 laps, a bit like a points race but with money. Both these events helped the Trophée des 3 pistes being exciting once again this year.

You can browse the men’s results HERE

You can browse the ladies’ results HERE

The next major inline speed skating event of the season is the Gross-Gerau Kriterium that will be raced next weekend in Germany.

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