TSP8: The 1994 France Iron Tour With Scott Molina

Image: Inside Triathlon (USA) December 1994

In the podcast audio above I speak to Scott Molina about the 1994 France Iron Tour. I haven’t done a full transcript yet though. At the top of the show Scott explains how a triathlon stage race, especially one with longer and mountainous stages, totally suited him as an athlete.

Scott was a professional triathlete from the early-80s until the mid-90s. He had 104 victories from 265 starts. This included the 1988 Hawaii Ironman champion. But he also won 4 overall USTS titles, the Zofingen duathlon and the Embrun ironman in 1991. And stood on the Nice podium four times. 

A book came out in 2021 called Slot. It was published by the French triathlon magazine TriMag. There’s a chapter in there called On a retrouve le Big Four. Or We found the Big Four. Where they chat with Dave Scott, Mark Allen, Scott Tinley and Scott Molina. 

Here’s something about Scott from the article that I really like. “How could a guy so relaxed and nonchalant knock the other three down so often.”

And that’s what I discovered when I got up at 04:30 AM on a Monday to call Scott at his place in Christchurch, New Zealand. That is somebody super-relaxed but generous with his time and memories to help me explain today’s piece of triathlon history.

If you haven’t listened then TSP7 was about the Trophee SNCF, which was a 2 day test event  organised in 1993 as a kind of proof of concept for sponsors, the federation, the athletes; and the towns that might consider hosting a stage of a future France Iron Tour.

The triathlon press presented the organisational problems but also the successes. I went through all of that in episode 7. But the overriding hope was that the race would be back (and longer)in 1994.

Well spoiler alert. It was.

The event was initially rumoured to have eight stages in ten days. This was published in TED magazine and mentioned by Rob Barel on the Eurosport coverage. But at the end of August 1994 eleven teams of six men toed the line in Vichy for four stages over five days. With, like in 1993, the final stage finishing at the top of Alpe d’Huez.

The French semi-pro clubs were again in attendance. These included Poissy, Andrezieux Boutheon and St. Quentin. Who also had Rob Barel onboard.

International teams were also formed and provided with a local naming sponsor. Peugeot-Sachs were pretty much the German national team with future Hawaii Ironman winner Thomas Hellriegel, Rainer Muller, Ralf Eggert, Holger Lorenz, Roland Knoll and Arnd Schomburg.

Point-P was basically the Aix En Provence Grand Prix team but with Rick Wells, Stephen Foster and Canadian Frank Clarke added for the Iron Tour. 

The Rider team was mainly Belgians. Buckler were South Africans. And Alpe d’Huez had 4 Australians. Ben Bright, Luke Beaver, Brett Ricchini and Andrew Johns. And co-founder of Kiwami clothing brand Craig Watson from New Zealand. And a Frenchman. Sylvain Dafflon.

All teams had matching uniforms that included a race kit and a tracksuit. Peugeot also provided every team with an 806 people carrier to get the athletes from stage to stage.

Scott’s team was called France Info. In my opinion they had the best kit. A well designed combination of black, white and yellow. And although he had taken 1993 off, in 1994 Scott was fit and having one of his most enjoyable seasons ever.

In Vichy he was joined by Wes Hobson, Andrew Carlson, Jimmy Riccitello, Mike Pigg and Simon Lessing. A super-team if you will. But no. That surely wasn’t allowed. But it was agreed that 5 out of the 6 athletes on a team had to be from the same country. France Info had 5 Americans and Simon Lessing, a Brit racing with a French licence. 

So Stage 1 was on Wednesday 31st August in Vichy. Vichy is now famous for the Ironman event held there. But back in 1994 it was already an established triathlon town. The stage was to be a Sprint Distance Team Time Trial. With teams being set-off a minute apart.

The Triathlon Team Time Trial was invented in France. And the first one was organised in 1992. Scott had never done one before.

So the France Info guys knew that it was crucial to have serious team harmony and get a good start to the week. As this first hour of racing could make or break your tour.

Andrew Carlson and Simon Lessing set the pace on the swim and created a draft for the other four. Carlson rolled over and did some backstroke from time to time to check everybody was on their feet. 

On the bike they were determined to work hard, have the best team cohesion and use this leg to put serious time on other teams.

The team's time would be taken when their fifth athlete crossed the line after the run. So dropping a slower runner or somebody who had played a team role on the swim and bike was OK. The run leg in Vichy was also where Scott learned of a new tactic from Simon Lessing. A push on the lower back.

The result of stage one was: 1st France Info. 2nd St Quentin about 1 minute 30 seconds behind. And then Alpe D’Huez in third, nearly 2 minutes back. The best start possible for Scott’s team.

Stage 2, on Thursday 1st September, was in Lyon. A two hour drive away, that the teams did after the Vichy stage. The race took place within the Grand Parc Miribel Jonage. Which is an enormous suburban lake complex on a kind of island formed by the Rhone River.

At a pre-race athletes meeting there was some debate as to whether the race should be draft-legal. As it would be hard to stay separated on the flat bike course set up on the internal park roads.

At this time, the concept of drafting in triathlons was completely new. The ITU had only introduced it in Round 2 of their World Cup series in Osaka, Japan in June 1994. And if we count the Goodwill Games in St. Petersburg and the Bordeaux Indoor event, the planet had only seen maybe seven high-level draft legal triathlons. 

Drafting was also still a super-controversial topic. It was not something that the top athletes of the day wanted or trained for. But Scott and the France Info boys were positive and ready for it.

After leading the swim. Simon Lessing and Ben Bright got away on the bike. Eventually gaining about 2 minutes on a chase pack. This pack was mainly driven by Mike Pigg but it also contained Molina, future 2000 Olympian Stephane Bignet, future 2004 Olympian Stephane Poulat and probably the best triathlon-swimmer in France at the time, Laurent Jeanselme.

On the run, Simon Lessing easily pulled away from Ben Bright to win by 1 minute 44 seconds. Scott had an excellent run on the mixed terrain course to finish third. 3 minutes 22 seconds behind Lessing.

So running some rough numbers after stage 2. The overall standings were: 1st Simon Lessing. 2nd Scott Molina at 3 minutes 22 seconds. And 3rd equal. Ben Bright and Mike Pigg. 3 minutes 28 seconds in arrears. This was already a huge lead for Simon Lessing after just two days. Highlighting the dominance he had at the short-course game back then.

Stage 3 took place the next day, Friday 2nd September, in Grenoble. Remember that Grenoble was the site of the 1993 France Iron Tour test-event that I talked about in TSP7. It was another 2 hour drive from Lyon to Grenoble. That again the teams did after the previous stage. The trip also included a stop at McDonalds for the France Info team.

This stage was an evening Sprint Distance event with the race due to start at 7PM. As it was on a Friday night the organisers hoped that plenty of spectators would be out to follow the downtown swim and two-lap run.

It was also in Grenoble that everybody would get their first taste of the mountains. With the entirety of the bike course being pretty much just the 9km climb and descent of the Col de Vence.

Like in 1993 the swim was in the Isere river. The water temperature was about 9°c. But the cold wasn’t the only difficulty. The fast running river meant that missing the exit ladders was a real possibility.

If you want you can also go back and look at the 1993 Eurosport coverage that I linked to in TSP7 to get an idea of the river conditions. 

The bike course was already hard with the long climb but the weather was also cold and wet. Scott was pleased when the race was over.

Mike Pigg, Simon Lessing and Frank Clark broke away on the climb. Pigg attacked on the slippery descent but Lessing lost nothing at all. Clarke got dropped from the lead trio and even experienced descenders like Scott and Jimmy Riccitello lost a minute or so.

Of course, Simon Lessing pulled away on the run to win his third stage in three days. Mike Pigg was second and Frank Clarke held on for third. Although out of the top 5, Scott was pleased to outkick Rob Barel.

Notable on this day was Patrick Girard’s 4th place. After getting 9th with the fastest run the day before. He was now, heading into the last stage, clearly the best French athlete on GeeCee.

Not many people could beat Simon Lessing and Mark Allen in the early-90s. But Girard, relatively unknown internationally, had done both. 

He outsprinted Lessing at the 1991 Coupe de France in Sete before ticking the Allen box at the 1992 Haut de Seine triathlon. That unfortunately became a duathlon on the day due to poor water quality.

Images: 220 (UK) October 1994

Saturday 3rd September was a rest day. After stage 3 yesterday, John Lillie, reporting for 220 magazine (above) wrote, “The only person not to look tired and haggard was Simon Lessing who was obviously living on the buzz of wearing the race leader's jersey.”

Grenoble to the ski town of Vaujany, where the last stage was due to start, was only about an hour's drive. Once there, Scott checked out the first climb. Which went from Lake Vaujany back to the village centre, had a massage and generally got ready for the final and probably hardest stage.

So. Stage 4 took place on Sunday 4th September and was an Olympic distance individual time-trial with a twist. Existing time gaps from the first 3 stages would be used to determine the day’s swim set-off times. 

Therefore the first athlete across the line after the run at the top of Alpe D’Huez would be the winner. Spectators and TV viewers would know what overall positions the athletes were in and hopefully athlete engagement would be maintained until the end.

So Simon Lessing dived into the not-warm water 4 minutes 19 seconds ahead of Mike Pigg. Followed by Ben Bright. And then Scott Molina. Still truckin’ in 4th. Surely Lessing couldn’t be caught. He was hoping to win four stages out of four while Pigg would be pushing gun to tape and hoping that Lessing would crack slightly on the final 12km from Bourg d’Oisans to Alpe D’Huez.

Climbing on the bike was a strength of Scott’s and so was running at altitude. The stage 4 run leg would be at 1860m and Scott had plenty of experience running hard at these altitudes on the trails near his home in Boulder, Colorado. He was definitely hoping to push for the podium. 

But on the descent from Vaujany to the valley Scott hit a stone in the road and had a skidding blow out losing 6 minutes waiting for Mavic car. Below.

Images: 220 (UK) October 1994

So let's look at the overall results of this historic first proper triathlon stage race. Well. Simon Lessing won all the stages and therefore also the general classification. In fact, after the Vaujany swim his lead increased from 4:19 to 6 minutes. Mike Pigg had the consolation of pulling back a minute or more on the bike but Simon still won stage 4 on time. 

The overall win was worth $15,000 and a Peugeot 306 car.

Mike Pigg was second overall 4:54 behind. Frank Clarke, the now proven climber, started 6th on the last day but had moved up to 3rd by the finish. 9:58 behind the winner. Then we had Ben Bright at 12 minutes. Another Australian Stephen Foster at 14:20. And the Germans Roland Knoll and Ralph Eggert at 14:49 and 14:54.

After not an ideal last day, but with the fastest run at Alpe d’Huez, Scott Molina got 8th overall.  Jimmy Riccitello was 9th and Patrick Girard was proudly the first French Athlete and fastest overall runner in 10th.

Of course, France Info secured the team win. 2nd was Point-P, Peugeot Sachs was third. Poissy was the first 100% French club team in 4th and the Belgium Rider Team was 5th. In fact, it was the team aspect that Scott really enjoyed. In what was, up until then, a very individual sport. 

It needs to be noted that the main organisers, Carole Gally and Carole Bertrand, had made big improvements since the 1993 test-event. 

Here’s John Lillie writing again in 220 magazine.

“It was a huge step forward for triathlon. No one previously has attempted such an undertaking and apart from some small problems, the whole race worked well. The athletes enjoyed the camaraderie of team racing and the spectators and television viewers got a good look at the sport of triathlon over a period of several days.”

Images: Triathlete (USA) December 1994

Scott kept a diary during his trip that was published in the December 1994 issue of Triathlete. Above. I love how it ends.

“On the trip home I started to envisage a two-week tour with more than a few longer stages interspersed. It’s not hard to get pumped up about that. Congrats to the organisation that pulled it all together. Please keep me on your mailing list.”

Unfortunately, Scott didn’t get to go back. He decided to end his long and successful professional career during the 1995 season. However, like me, he thinks it would be great to see the format come back. With a special request for longer stages. Because as the France Iron Tour continued into 1995 and onwards most days became sprint races.

Images: Triathlete (FR) Octobre 1994

I hope this has enabled you to get a feel for an event that inspired me as a young, ambitious triathlete. An event that doesn’t exist anymore. At least not as four or more days with the world's best athletes attending.

I’m as obsessed with the France Iron Tour now as I was back then. And in 2024 I’m even thinking of heading down to South Eastern France to recreate the whole race from Vichy to Alpe d’Huez.

I’m also definitely going to look at the 1995 France Iron Tour soon. And then 1996 and maybe 1997. In 1996 there was a mainly-British team taking part, sponsored by Haribo. A story for another day.

Links:

Slot: La Legende Du Triathlon
TSP7: The 1993 France Iron Tour Test-Event 
1993 Trophee SNCF

Sources:

TED (FR) Mars 1993
Slowtwitch. Interview with Scott Molina.