UPDATE: Now with added video! Day three of the transcendental transfixing Trans-Provence enduro race and it’s tight as a gnat’s crotch at the top of the table, with Vouilloz, Clementz and Weir as close as you like.

http://vimeo.com/29766136

Trans Provence Day 3 from Trans-Provence on Vimeo.

Dirt Magazine’s Steve Jones as had a tough old time, not only with a few mechanicals but also with trying to gather enough Wi-fi to beam over his video blogs and to Google…”how to stay alive on a bike”.

So he has put pen to paper and jotted down his thoughts:

“After three flat out days here in southern France it couldn’t be any tighter. After dominating the first few days Nico Vouilloz finds his lead cut to four seconds over Jerome Clementz, with Mark Weir in third.

Its been quite a journey to get here, equally in between stages, epic landscapes and some utterly ballsy riding. Heads up and totally flat out, yesterdays final drop into Digne a majestic mix of smooth arcing corners and endless high speed turns next to a ravine. Rock, root, risk…it had it all. In fact the whole event has it all – and the tracks, and you have to work to get to them, have all been total gems.

The battle amongst the pro’s is a complex, some would say a strategic mix. “I’m gonna go outer body tomorrow” said Weir as we left dinner last night. Vouilloz has been the king of the technical on the whole, although Barel, down after day one made an incredible comeback to shut yesterdays largely downhill stages down.

It was Weir however that raised most eyebrows on the barn storming third stage yesterday with a strong stage win on a track that can only be described as bonkers fast. Heading on for fifty miles an hour on the loosest boulders you’ve ever seen. Wild.

Moseley meanwhile has been commanding the women’s category looking comfortable in everything she does. Not exactly a holiday for her and boyfriend James Richards who is chasing the Expert category from a keyboard poker here.

Had a bit of a nightmare few days personally after a good start. Chain jam on three of the past four stages, wrong turns on two of the past five have reduced my margin considerably. The last stage today was the first clean run since Sunday.

And that’s pretty much it. Body and bike, heads up looking for the tracks, gauging speed of entry into corners, wide open when you can, conserving energy on the in between stages. I’ve learned about salt, eating food whenever I can, watching the unfolding story amongst the pro’s.

It’s crazy, I’m camped in between Andreas Hestler, an Olympic cross country racer on one side and Nico Vouilloz, many time World Downhil champion the other. Then there are the non-pro riders mixing it with this rabble sharing tales of luck or not. The banter is off the scale.

And now after one hour and however many minutes of racing the top three are separated by 19 seconds!”

Check out the top 25 below. The times look like they’ve been rounded up to the nearest minute.

Trans-Provence Top 25

Place Dos Surname First Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 Total Time

1 35 VOUILLOZ Nicolas 00:28: 00:30: 00:27: 01:26:
2 12 CLEMENTZ Jérôme 00:28: 00:30: 00:27: 01:26:

3 25 WEIR Mark 00:28: 00:30: 00:26: 01:26:
4 6 BAREL Fabien 00:30: 00:30: 00:28: 01:28:
5 36 RYAN Matt 00:29: 00:32: 00:27: 01:28:
6 26 CRUZ Ben 00:30: 00:31: 00:26: 01:28:

7 30 SORRELL Rowan 00:32: 00:31: 00:30: 01:35:
8 27 BEAUMONT Marc 00:30: 00:33: 00:32: 01:36:
9 32 JONES Steve 00:31: 00:34: 00:32: 01:38:

10 20 RICHARDS James 00:33: 00:34: 00:30: 01:39:
11 33 KIRKMAN Mick 00:34: 00:34: 00:32: 01:41:
12 42 BROOKES Rob 00:35: 00:35: 00:32: 01:44:
13 1 KIENAST Pascal 00:37: 00:35: 00:31: 01:44:

14 38 GRAVERSE Tim 00:34: 00:37: 00:32: 01:44:
15 24 MARTIN Sven 00:37: 00:33: 00:33: 01:45:
16 34 HESTLER Andreas 00:31: 00:43: 00:30: 01:45:
17 56 MATHEWS Iain 00:35: 00:39: 00:31: 01:46:

18 18 MCLEAN Neil 00:35: 00:38: 00:33: 01:47:
19 19 MOSELEY Tracy 00:38: 00:36: 00:34: 01:48:
20 29 ROJO Cesar 00:32: 00:37: 00:38: 01:48:
21 41 HARPER Kevin 00:37: 00:36: 00:34: 01:48:

22 31 PORTER Chris 00:36: 00:36: 00:36: 01:48:
23 10 ZIMMERMANN Joris 00:39: 00:42: 00:34: 01:56:
24 23 MARTIN Anka 00:39: 00:41: 00:35: 01:56:
25 54 ALDER Matt 00:40: 00:41: 00:35: 01:57: