The Frenchman raced in front of his home crowd to a finishing time, just 50 seconds shy of first place. His teammate Thor Bendix Madsen made his comeback after injury with a 12th place finish in his first race of the season.
He had a great swim, exiting the water in 9th place, only half a minute behind the lead. On the bike, a big leading group of ten athletes was immediately established, including Mignon. Biding his time in the first half of the up-and-down bike course, the BMC athlete went to the front to push the pace in the second part. He managed to cut down the group to seven athletes and helped grow the lead to 2 minutes coming into T2. From that point onwards, it was obvious that the battle for the podium spots would be fought on the run.
Just like during the bike leg, the Frenchman kept his pace in control in the early stages and worked his way up from there. At the halfway mark, he had moved up to 5th place, trailing the final podium spot by 20 seconds.
He managed to chase down Bogen and make a pass in the closing kilometers to cross the finish line in 3rd place in front of his home fans. With back-to-back podium finishes in the Ironman Pro Series, Mignon also strengthens his points tally in the overall ranking. I think I have put up my best numbers on the bike and run. The level of racing was high all day long. It is a great motivation to go all in. And it is a great feeling to have such a strong field and an Ironman Pro Series here in France.
It felt amazing to get cheered on by so many people. The beginning of the run was at a really fast pace, so I tried to manage my energy to the finish with success. I ran a PB, finishing close to the winner, which is important for the Pro Series points. With Kona and now Taupo added to the race calendar, it will be a long season, but very interesting nonetheless. The Dane settled inside the chase group during the swim.
