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Quick facts to know about Victor Del Corral :

He was born May 13th, 1980 in Barcelona.
As most of the people from Catalunya, he is fan of FC Barcelona.
He studied nutrition and dietetic at the University and he prefers paëlla than pasta. His sport backgroud is mountain bike.
He has been National Junior Champion and has been selected few times in the National team of mountain bike. Then, around 2005, he started duathlon and, now, he is more focusing on triathlon events.
He is living in Lanzarote (Spain) where he trains around 40 hours / week.
His motto: Enjoy ! You only live once !

At the XTERRA France 2011, how did you feel when you saw it was raining for the race ?

Fine ! Honnestly, I don't really enjoy muddy races, but with my background as mountain biker, I thought the rain will make the bike course more technical and that will give me an advantage. I know I can have a good race with these conditions , so I felt lucky and thought that will be a good day for me !

What was your strategy for the race ?

No strategy when you lose time in the water. Start on fire until the finish line!

How was your race preparation for the XTERRA France ?

It could have been better ! I won the ITU Cross Triathlon European Championships in Hungary one week before the XTERRA France. Then, I moved to South of France in Pyrénnées for one of my sponsor ''Inverse''. Then, I drove to Xonrupt and arrived on Friday. So, I spent lot of time in travel and with my sponsor the week before and had only few trainings. But, I worked well and I won it !

What would you advise to an athlete who want to race the XTERRA France ?

I would tell him it's a great event ! To enjoy the race, it's necessary to feel good on the bike, as it's the longest and probably the toughest part of the race. Four weeks before the race, I'm doing many series mountain bike / trail run / mountain bike / trail run etc..

What have you thought about the XTERRA World Championships this year ?

The level of the pro field was amazing this year in Maui. That's good to see Olympic athletes like Frodeno (Ger) or Rana (Spa) come to race XTERRA. The best athletes were there, even Lance Armstrong ! I think that it would have been very tough for me to be top 3, but I hope to race against all of them next year.

What are your goals for the next season ?

I'm now more focusing on triathlon than duathlon. The goal of the first part of my season 2012 is the Ironman Lanzarote on May 19th, 2012. Then, as defending Champion I hope to race the XTERRA France.

2 year ban

The Austrian Pro and current XTERRA World Champion, Michael Weiss, is banned from all competitions for 2 years until November 2013.

The case had actually been hanging over the head of Michael Weiss since 2005.

Statements by former road Pro Bernhard Kohl had led to the Michael Weiss investigation about visits to the blood plasma laboratory Humanplasma in Vienna in 2005 but, even though the commission had little doubts about Weiss having been in that blood plasma lab, when Kohl did not repeat those accusations against Weiss, the case had to be dropped.

"This is not from anything that is remotely recent. The allegation dates back to 2005, as I was a professional mountain biker, and is based solely on one individual’s verbal accusation. NADA is a politically motivated agency and this development is in complete disagreement with the ruling by the Austrian State's attorney which dismissed the case weeks ago, as there was no evidentiary proof," said Weiss to slowtwitch when asked about the ban. "All of my results in triathlon will remain standing, as the case has no basis in my career as a triathlete."