Brazil’s Miguel Hidalgo was back on top of the WTCS podium on Friday afternoon, as he kicked clear of Australia’s Matt Hauser to take the second top-tier win of his career at the World Triathlon Championship Series Abu Dhabi, the final WTCS race before the Triathlon World Tour is unveiled in 2027.
That pair had been part of an 11-deep lead pack that kept narrowly clear of a marauding four-man chase group including Hayden Wilde, the New Zealander hitting the gas out of T2 to pass everyone except the two untouchables up ahead and take the bronze before moving on to Saturday’s T100 Dubai.
“I had a disappointing season and to come back with the win is amazing,” admitted Hidalgo. “In 2026 I made a lot of mistakes with my training and went back to basics for 6 weeks and it went really well. I’m so proud of the work we have done. I was feeling good the whole race, the swim was tough and the second group closed the gap a little bit, but that 5-second gap was enough and I was happy to have gone with 3km to go and know that it worked.”
The 2025 World Champion and race number one Matt Hauser led the athletes onto the pontoon ahead of the 750m swim, and quickly set about stretching out the race from the front to try and blunt the challenge of the likes of Hayden Wilde and David Cantero further back.
Alessio Crociani (ITA) then took the lead as the athletes approached the shore in two distinct groups, Mitch Kolkman (NED) right there with him and Miguel Hidalgo joining them on the bike as Hauser and teammate Luke Willian headed off first onto the five-lap, 20km bike.
Wilde, Simon Westermann (SUI) and Ben Dijkstra (NED) were in a group some 40 seconds off the pace, but they were working well and had soon sliced the deficit to the front 11 riders almost in half.
Then Westermann, Wilde, Shachar Sagiv (ISR) and Antonio Serrat (ESP) were able to break clear of the big chase pack, and were efficient in their work as they hovered 20 seconds off the leaders, David Cantero (ESP) and Henri Schoeman’s (RSA) group another 25 seconds further back but drifting to almost a minute by the end of the ride.
The four chasers continued to chip away at the leaders’ advantage and managed to get it down to 8 seconds heading in to transition, Crociani leaving it late to put in a burst as he came into transition first and headed up the race onto the 5km run.
Hauser was straight onto his shoulder though, and then to the front with Hidalgo, that pair hoping to hurt Wilde’s challenge as early as possible.
Sagiv was holding firm with Wilde with bronze on the line, Max Stapley just off that pair with Kolkman and Braxton Legg (USA), while up front it was Hidalgo suddenly putting daylight between himself and Hauser.
That margin simply grew and grew then held firm over the second half of the final lap and the Brazilian was able to soar home and take the tape by 18 seconds, extinguishing a frustrating season by his high standards, Hauser second, Wilde completing the podium after a huge effort on the bike to get into contention.
Netherlands’ Ian Pennekamp produced a massive sprint to take fourth ahead of Luke Willian and Braxton Legg, Sagiv, Serrat, Kolkman and Darr Smith (USA) completing the top 10.
Matt Hauser:
"I could really feel the legs – and the whole year – in the back end of that race," said Hauser. "Credit to Hidalgo and he worked a lot on the bike. Im stoked for the podium, its been a long year and I feel I executed as well as I could. With the wind the bike was exposed and the group was a bit too big and a few guys missing turns. It’s tough when the wind is up.
Hayden Wilde:
“I made sure I was swimming as right as possible and came round into a nice position, and on the bike you just had to put your head down and get aero," said Wilde. "We got a nice group of four and working so well together but it wasn’t quite enough. Matty and Hidalgo were just too far off the front but happy to be back on the podium for the first time since here last year and save the legs for the T100 tomorrow.”
