The start of stage 7 in Bessans in La Grande Odyssée is a mass start.
A moment awaited by the mushers who can directly confront the other teams.
This line start offers a great spectacle to all spectators.
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The Great Odyssey VVF: the life-size adventure
The most anticipated, but also the most feared stage of La Grande Odyssée VVF is certainly the one which leaves from Bessans. A special stage in many respects: it takes place over two days with a bivouac of the crews at the Mont Cenis pass at an altitude of 2,085 meters and its departure is carried out in mass start and not like the other stages, a team at the time trial.
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An adrenaline rush
“The mass start is a group start where we will all be lined up, the mushers next to each other” describes Cindy Duport. “It’s always a moment of excitement, whether for us or for the dogs” adds Yohann Henry, who also specifies that “the public is in turmoil”. For his part, Gaël Brossette, who is experiencing his second mass start of La Grande Odyssée VVF this year, believes that “it’s an extraordinary spectacle, as mushers, we have the adrenaline pumping at the moment of departure, we say to ourselves what it will be like to leave in line”. Because that is the whole point of this mass start, each team must give their all to arrive in the lead at the end of the long straight and attack the track in front of the others.
Everyone has their own strategy for tackling the mass start
“It’s a moment when you have to be very concentrated so as not to crash into each other between sleds” explains Yohann Henry. The musher must make the right choice between his dogs: “It’s really important to choose your leader carefully that day, precisely so that he keeps the straight line” says Clément Raux. Jean Combazard, dean of La Grande Odyssée VVF, has his strategy for tackling this mass start: “My lead dogs never measure up to the lead dogs of others, they are always behind, which means they only want to overtake the others”. And as Gaël Brossette tells it, “At the end there is a funnel waiting for us, so the aim of the game is to go as quickly as possible to get out among the first and get on the track.”
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