DAY 25 <-> DAY 23
On the morning of the last day of the race, Jack Butler set off from Montélimar, some 70km ahead of Jean-Marc Dubouloz, still in Avignon. The two men continued their efforts, knowing that the gap could only be closed by a twist of fate befalling the young Englishman.
By mid-day, Jack arrived in the Grenoble sector. He was faced with the final choice of itinerary of the adventure: pass through the valley or cut straight across the Chartreuse massif, with two short passes to cross. His choice reflected his strategy since the Sahara: “I always cut as short as possible!
As the icing on the cake, Jack had prepared by keeping his batteries almost fully charged, so as to be able to climb the day’s cols at full speed. See this video shot 40 km before the finish. By this time, Jack Butler was already certain of winning.
Jack Butler, who arrived in Chambéry at 2.15pm on May 5, is the overall winner of the Sun Trip 2024! He adds his name to the list of winners, after Raf Van Hulle (2013 & 2018), Bernard Cauquil (2015) and Jean-Marc Dubouloz (2021). At 29, he becomes the youngest winner of a The Sun Trip.
At the same time, Jean-Marc decided to pass through Grenoble and avoid the mountain sector before Chambéry. He lost a little more time on this detour, but the die was cast!
Arriving 4 hours later in Chambéry, Jean-Marc Dubouloz took a fabulous 2nd place, having won in 2021 with a 3-hour lead. He continues to write his name in the Sun Trip legend!
At the finish line, he expressed his respect for Jack and his performance on the Sun Trip. He also regretted his choice of route via Barcelona a few days ago: “I screwed up, I only saw afterwards that the route via the Pyrenees was quite rolling. I think I could have got through if I’d maintained my lead, which was about an hour at that stage. In Barcelona, I lost a lot of time in the traffic at the end of the day. I had a 400 km day and Jack still put 60 km in my sights! Respect“.
Between now and tomorrow, we’ll be featuring a joint interview with the two champions to look back on the highlights of this spectacular edition.
First images
The finish line with Jack:
4 hours later, the great champion Jean-Marc Dubouloz arrives in his turn. After winning the 2021 title, he’s back on the podium again!
His first words were for Jack: “You deserve this victory, no question about it. You’ve pulled off a masterstroke in the Pyrenees, a big bravo”.
Jack’s last video of the day
The pics from participants in Morocco :
