Triathlon history will be made this weekend as the World Triathlon Championship Series and T100 World Tour come together under the golden glow of the French Riviera for the planet’s first ever double-header of top-tier racing.
After Saturday morning’s fiery T100 action, Sunday 31 August will see attentions shift to WTCSA as the chase continues for a shot at the big one: becoming the women’s 2025 World Triathlon Champion.
Current rankings leader Beth Potter will be looking to hold off defending champ Cassandre Beaugrand on her home turf and to tighten her grip on the Series with gold and a 1000-point haul. Beaugrand has just two scoring races so far this campaign, meaning that a podium could see her rocket to the top of the standings. As ever, though, a rich cast of talent stands in her way.
The course is a split-transition, sprint-distance gem. The 750m beach-start swim transitions to a 5-lap, 20km bike, the last loop of which finishes with an extended segment round the city of Frejus and into transition two. From there it’s a 3-lap, 5km run to the tape as the fastest women in the world battle it out for the medals and points.
From Saturday morning’s 7am T100 start to the men’s WTCS at 14.45 and the women at 16:30, this will be a triathlon weekend for the ages. Watch the action over on TriathlonLive.tv. (T100 not available in Europe, see here for details.)
Leading the Line
Wearing the race number one on Sunday will be Britain’s 2023 World Champion Beth Potter. Like her French rival, Potter chose to miss the early season opener in Abu Dhabi and the move looked to have paid off in May as she scored an excellent silver in the cold and rain of Yokohama.
A bronze in Hamburg and 8th in Alghero now sees her on top and on 2360 points. Upgrading that result in Italy to another podium could see her up to just shy of 2800 out of a maximum 3000.
For Cassandre Beaugrand, the aches and pains of her bike crash in Yokohama feel like a lifetime ago, thanks largely to an inspired return in Alghero that saw her swoop to the gold in emphatic fashion. More recently, an equally impressive run from Leonie Periault was all that could stop the Olympic Champion from crafting a follow-up gold in Hamburg in July. Still, it is hard to imagine this race, 50km from where she learned her trade in Antibes, being anything other than a showcase for Beaugrand’s quality.
Periault, Tertsch and Lehair lie in wait
Germany’s Lisa Tertsch kicked off the season in style with a win in Abu Dhabi and remains a key force. That race fell outside of new rules awarding equal points for sprint-distance wins as Olympic (from 750 up to 1000), and as such she sits on 2282 points, a mere 60 behind the leader. Despite a surprise 9th place in Hamburg, Tertsch has shown that she now has the swim power to lead the pack. If so, she will want to avoid burning too many early matches on the bike as looked the case in Germany.
Jeanne Lehair (LUX) soared to gold at WTCS Yokohama, and has just proved herself over the shortest, sharpest racing with a supertri Chicago win a week ago. Like the local Periault, her chances of building on one win this year will be boosted by a partisan home crowd and the occasion of Series racing in France and the historic double-header will provide even more wind to her sails.
With all four WTCS race winners from the season starting together, the French Riviera could just produce one of the most electrifying finishes yet. For Beaugrand, Periault and Emma Lombardi, racing on home turf could add a precious psychological edge, and make them unstoppable should they find themselves in a sprint finish.
Olivia Mathias (GBR), Emma Jeffcoat (AUS) and Maya Kingma (NED) can all have a major impact on how the early stages of the race play out if they look to string the swim. Taylor Spivey (USA) will be the sole woman attempting a historic double of both the T100 and WTCS formats this weekend, all of which could either have a negative impact on her power output on Sunday, or provide the perfect loosener for a season-best finish.
Keep an eye on Sweden’s Tilda Mansson as she looks to continue her ascent into the top ten of the biggest races of the year so far, and Mexico’s Rosa Maria Tapia will be hoping top consolidate her place in the Series top 10 with a red-hot run.
WTCS FRENCH RIVIERA
FULL START LIST
31 AUGUST 16:30
TRIATHLONLIVE.TV
