GTWS race four 2024 – Marathon du Mont-Blanc men’s results: Elazzaoui wins epic battle with Bonnet

Elhousine Elazzaoui was the brilliant winner of the Marathon du Mont-Blanc after an absorbing battle with last year’s champion Rémi Bonnet.

Moroccan Elazzaoui, winner of last year’s Grand Final, led the overall standings going into the fourth race of this year’s Golden Trail World Series, while Swiss star Bonnet was making his first GTWS appearance in 2024 at a race he bossed 12 months ago.

And the two of them treated the huge crowds to a spectacular contest after moving clear of their rivals by the halfway point.

The lead would change hands many times thereafter but the decisive move came from Elazzaoui on the long final descent into Chamonix as his flat-out charge saw him shatter the course record with a time of 3:30:10, 46 seconds ahead of Bonnet.

Bonnet’s Swiss compatriot Roberto Delorenzi, the newly-crowned ‘Up & Down’ European trail champion, completed the podium in third, just over two minutes back.

How the race panned out

The hammer was down right from the start and Bonnet was at the head of affairs just ahead of Delorenzi at the 6.4km mark at Le Levancher, with Elazzaoui at that point back in eighth, albeit only a handful of seconds back as the leaders were still tightly grouped.

But all that changed when the runners tackled the Aiguillette des Posettes climb – up front it was still Bonnet and Delorenzi but the chasers had now been whittled down to five, with Elazzaoui part of that pack.

Heading up to the top of that climb was where Bonnet kicked clear and at this stage of the race it looked like we were in for an action replay of his dominant win from last year.

But Elazzaoui had other ideas, bridging across by the summit at the 18km point and then using his descending prowess to throw down attack after attack. Indeed he also challenged Bonnet on the climbs and refused to let him stay in a smooth rhythm.

There was little between them at any point but the downhill finish was always likely to play to Elazzaoui’s strengths and so it proved as he notched his first Mont-Blanc Marathon win.

Prediction proves spot on

It all made a pre-race interview with Bonnet that we featured on these pages ring true too.

He had highlighted Elazzaoui as his big threat, saying: “I think he has gained confidence; he has seen that he can win races, and it suits him.

“Before, he was there but would wait for others and wasn’t too bold to go off on his own. Now, I think he understands he can win, and that changes everything for him.”

Speaking afterwards, Elazzaoui said: “This victory means a lot to me; I’ve been wanting to win the Marathon du Mont-Blanc for a long time.

“It’ll give me even more confidence for the upcoming races, I know that I can do even better. Rémi was really strong today, but I stayed calm, and I went in for the kill at the 36-kilometre mark to take that victory.”

And Bonnet was gracious in defeat, both on the finish line and when looking back at the race. He said: “I’m happy, for my first marathon of the season I don’t think I could’ve done better.

“If you look at the times we set today they were much faster than last year. It shows that the level is rising every year and that this second place is worth even more than my victory last year. Elhousine was really strong today so congratulations to him.”

2024 GTWS race four – Marathon du Mont-Blanc, Sunday June 29, 42km

MEN

1. Elhousine Elazzaoui (MOR) – 3:30:10
2. Rémi Bonnet (SUI) – 3:30:56
3. Roberto Delorenzi (SUI) – 3:33:07
4. Kevin Kibet (KEN) – 3:35:05
5. Ezekiel Rutto (KEN) – 3:37:23