M20-34: Hivert surges through the men's field to claim the CCC crown

• Pierre-Adrien Hivert won M20-34 in 20:14:31 (13:29/mi), climbing from 11th to 2nd among men across the race and posting the fastest men's split on the Hauteluce→Barrage de la Girotte segment.
• Davide Rivero (5th, 20:42:48) ran the fastest men's split on Fort de la Platte→Passeur de Pralognan and surged from 20th to 3rd among men — but faded in the final stretch as Hivert and Nicolas Court (2nd, 20:56:57) came through.
• Court and Paul Creuzet (3rd, 21:12:08) traded blows on the closing Bellevue→Les Houches leg, posting the fastest and second-fastest men's splits respectively — a chase that decided 2nd and 3rd by just over 15 minutes.
• The top 5 in M20-34 all finished inside 21:23, with Adrien Jacques (4th, 21:22:12) rounding out a remarkably tight lead pack across 145 km and 9,500+ meters of gain.

Pierre-Adrien Hivert ran one of the most controlled builds of the entire M20-34 field. Starting the night out of Courmayeur sitting 11th among men, the 31-year-old steadily threaded his way forward — 9th, 6th, 4th — before locking into 2nd among men for the final stages and crossing into Chamonix in 20:14:31 at a 13:29/mi average. The decisive move came on the Hauteluce→Barrage de la Girotte segment, where he posted the fastest men's split of anyone in the field on that stretch. By the finish, no one in M20-34 was close.

The real drama in the mid-race belonged to Davide Rivero. The 33-year-old launched from 20th among men at the opening checkpoint and tore through the field — 13th, 7th, 5th, 3rd — fueled by the fastest men's split on Fort de la Platte→Passeur de Pralognan. At 20:42:48 he finished 5th in M20-34, but his trajectory through the middle of the race was the most aggressive of anyone near the top.

Nicolas Court and Paul Creuzet wrote the closing chapter. Court (30) moved from 14th among men at the start to 4th by the finish, clocking 20:56:57 and the fastest men's split on the final Bellevue→Les Houches leg. Creuzet (27) shadowed him on that same segment with the second-fastest men's split, finishing in 21:12:08 for 3rd. Adrien Jacques (32) completed the top four in 21:22:12, his own 2nd-fastest men's split on La Gittaz→Entre deux Nants keeping him in contention throughout before he settled into 4th.

Behind the lead pack, Fabien Feutrier (6th, 21:46:22) and Jules Creuzet (7th, 21:48:57) separated themselves from the next tier, with Thibault Merat (8th, 22:43:30) and Paul Balbo (9th, 22:46:08) arriving within three minutes of each other. Marvin Foucher closed out the top ten in 23:03:01, capping a deep M20-34 field of 194 finishers across one of ultrarunning's most technically demanding courses.