This year's Ironman France will take place on June 22nd, and will probably be the biggest Ironman race in the world. The list of registered athletes stands at 2,700 entries, and one of them is Laurent Jalabert. IM France will be his third race over the distance but his first in his home country. “I am of course happy to participate in Ironman France. Very happy, actually, and also very motivated for this new challenge.” declares Laurent Jalabert. He considered racing there in 2007, but due to the change of the race date he had to choose Switzerland for his first Ironman where he qualified for Hawaii last October.

Jalabert is the most decorated cyclist to ever give the Ironman challenge a try. He has won Paris-Nice three times, four stages of the Tour de France, three stages at the Giro d’Italia and 18 stages at the Vuelta – plus the World Time Trial Championships in 1997. This talent showed in Switzerland, where he was ranked 41st with a final time of 9:24:29 – including a penalty of 12 minutes! At Hawaii he exited the water in 1143rd position but finished bike in 4:37, the best bike time in his age group and the 26th fastest overall.

After only three years of operation, Ironman France has succeeded in attracting a record number of athletes. The entries had to be closed five months ahead of the race. With an expected 2500 triathletes on the starting line on race day, no other race in Europe will field more athletes.