GAIL MERRIEN gritted her teeth, avoided any mishaps on the rough paths and all but claimed the women’s title on stage six of the All-Terrain series last evening. Returning to the south-coast cliff paths for the second time this week, but this time for a time-trial, Merrien was quickest of the four women contenders for the title, clocking 40min. 31sec.

That gives her a lead of 2min. 13sec. going into this evening’s final stage in Herm.

As long as she stays on her feet, it is difficult to see her losing now, but the race for second spot in the women’s standings is very close with just 27sec. covering second-placed Sarah Mercier, Tricia Lewis in third and Kerry Robin in fourth.

The latter ran a super sixth stage, clocking 41-09.

In the men’s standings Steve Dawes was more than a minute quicker than his nearest rival with a time of 32-20.