The Main Nue
Individuel Elite Pro Championnat de France A and B competition is sponsored by the Federation Francaise de Pelote Basque (FFPB). The competition began on December 23, 2016 and will end on February 20, 2017. You can follow its progress here. Pelotelive.free.fr also provides A and B
coverage. The tournament is a seeded ladder tournament.
* not listed on the Esku Pilota player pages at this time.
The
A group consists of Antton Amulet, Philippe Bielle, Bixintxo Bilbao,
Pascal de Ezcurra, Baptiste Ducassou, Peio Guichandut, Ximun Lambert,
Peio Larralde, Matheiu Ospital, and Agusti Waltary. The seeds, from low
to high are: Amulet and Ospital (1/8), Bilbao and Waltary
(Quarter-finals), and Larralde and Ducassou ("Liguilla").
The
B group consists of Gregory Aguirre, Jean-Philippe Benesse, Mickael
Darmendrail, Vincent Elgart, Julien Etchegaray, Alexis Inchauspe,
Laurent Lambert, Cedric Lucu, Alain Migueltorena, Antton Monce, Mattin
Olcomendy*, and Mickael Palomes. The seeds, from low to high are:
Darmendrail and L. Lambert (1/8), Palomes and Inchauspe
(Quarter-finals), and Elgart and Monce ("Liguilla"). Note: Benesse was
added to the Esku Pilota player pages sometime in January 2017.
The "Liguilla" phase is a round robin among the top 4 finishers (two
who win their way in and two who are seeded in) which will determine
the finalists.
Article describing the competition (Esku Pilota)
December 23 2016-January 2, 2017; January 6, 2017; January 9, 2017; January 14, 2017; January 16, 2017 ; January 20, 2017
January 21, 2017
Villefranque (1)(2)(3)
A5: Bilbao defeated Guichandut 40-34
Preview article (Pilota Ttiki)
Match article (Pilota Ttiki)
Match article, along with an audio interview with Bilbao (Esku Pilota)
Selected linescore (winner always listed first) (source: match articles above)
10-5; 12-6; 15-6; 19-12; 20-12; 21-13; 25-19; 26-19; 30-22; 33-23; 35-23; 39-29; 39-34; 40-34
Bilbao was in control throughout, building up a 9 point lead in the first half of the match, maintaining it until almost the end, and then holding off a late Guichandut charge. Guichandut, who had beaten Amulet at Arcangues on January 6 after trailing 33-38 and 35-39, was hoping for another great finish. Both match articles mention that Bilbao has a new coach (Philippe Carricart). Bilbao moves on to the Liguilla phase of the tournament.
Bilbao will first face Larralde (seeded into the tournament at this level) at historic Saint Palais (0:12-0:24 on the video if your device doesn't parse the section) on January 29, 2017.
For cumulative records of Main Nue elite professionals see the "Cumulative records of EP players" on the recurring results page on the right side of the blog.
