Tommaso Giacomel strikes again and scores in the mass start

An extraordinary Tommaso Giacomel takes the win in the Le Grand Bornard mass start and he does it in a big way, launching the lone breakaway in the penultimate lap and then threading a burst into the final polygon and enjoying the final round in perfect solitude. It’s the 25-year-old from Trentino’s third personal best, the second of the season after the Hochfilzen sprint: the financier from Primiero closes in the best possible way a 2025 that has literally exalted him, allowing him to make a qualitative leap that has led him among the main protagonists of world biathlon.

Giacomel stumbles into a mistake in the opening polygon, on the ground: it will be the only one for the entire race, because the Blue’s ascent will be constant, enough to allow him to get back in touch with the best at the third shooting session. On his feet, Giacomel’s pace was unsustainable and Tommaso came out ahead of everyone from the range and then launched the breakaway, leaving host Eric Perrot and German Julius Strelow in place.

The last polygon is one for anthology, the final lap allowing the triumph to be completed, complete with a tricolor on the finishing straight: 33’35″1 is the time of Giacomel (1-0-0-0) who leaves behind an error-free Perrot (+18″1) while Svetle Christiansen (1-1-0-0) prints Strelow (zero errors) in a sprint for third place; fifth is overall leader Johan Olav Botn (1-1-0-0), followed by Johannes Dale (1-0-1-0) and Campbell Wright (0-2-0-0). Lukas Hofer is then 24th with three shooting errors (1-0-1-1) with a gap of 1’59″6 from his teammate.

The French stage could not have ended any better for a Giacomel who had been forced to chase after Friday’s sprint: his third win in the calendar year moves him back to third place in the overall standings with 431 points, ahead of Botn (560) and Perrot (431). So it will go again, on January 8 in Oberhof, in the next World Cup stage.