New Zealand’s Hayden Wilde turned on his afterburners to run away from the pre-race T100 Race To Qatar rankings leader Jelle Geens, to win the Spain T100 Triathlon in Oropesa Del Mar in impressive style today.
Wilde outpacing the Belgian #1 ranked runner in searing Spanish heat to register four T100 wins from four T100 starts, to go with his victories this season in Singapore, London and the French Riviera.
The win helped Wilde overtake Geens in the T100 Race to Qatar with just three races to go – in Wollongong (18 October), Dubai (13-16 November) and the Qatar T100 Triathlon World Championship Final (10-13 December).
German Jonas Schomburg put in a lung bursting performance to round off the podium in third, just one week after competing in Nice at the Ironman World Championships.
KEY QUOTES
Winner Hayden Wilde (NZL):
“Yeah, it was pretty challenging I’ve got to admit. Jelle should go for a Guinness World Record of putting socks on because I was right beside him [in T2] and I was like “Wow, he’s already gone” and I’ve got one sock on already. So he put 15 seconds onto me at the start of the run and I just made sure I was relaxed and I slowly caught up to him which was nice. Once I caught up to him I could see it turn into a bit of a tactical race. Around lap four I decided to put the afterburners on just to see how he was feeling and yeah, I was able to drop him. I just kept the pace there.”
On Jelle rivalry:
“It was one of the first times we have run off the bike together so it was super interesting. Obviously when you go out there you’re a little bit stressed out because he’s already got a big lead on you and he’s one of the best runners in the sport at this distance. I was a little bit nervous, but I made sure not to go out too hard and just control myself and race smart, get ice on, get water on the face, on the body, and do what I can do to keep the body cool and race my own race. Hopefully that’s enough to get myself back to the front.”
“Honestly, you know, I always take a risk. I think Rico actually joined me with the risk today – no swim skin – and it paid off again today. I was right off the back of the front group and then I was out around third place and could get into the rhythm. It was probably one of the hardest bikes I’ve done this season, whether it was my legs or whether it was the pace. I couldn’t go with Margirier at the end. For 50km it was on and then it kinda like, eased up a little bit, and you can gather yourself. But I was pushing pretty hard on the bike just to keep with him, and I was hoping the legs would turn up on the run. Definitely a hard day out, especially when the blue sky comes out and the Spanish sun starts to beat down on you.”
On his T100 Race To Qatar points tally this season:
“It’s super nice, you know, I’m still looking forward to racing Wollongong and I’ve got the same objective to go there and race hard, and the same with Dubai as well. I’ve come out to say I really want to win every race so I’ll be pushing until Qatar and, as I said, the season isn’t over until Qatar. I’ve been in this position many times and I’ve fallen short, so I’ve just give it all to keep the pressure on and hopefully to do well in Qatar to bring it home. But it’s still a long season for sure.”
Second placed Jelle Geens (BEL):
“Yeah, like Marten said last week after Nice “I tried but died”. I had a good swim again but it stayed very close, everything together. I felt good on the bike but unfortunately crashed at the start of lap two. When I was laying on the ground I thought that was race over. But I got myself together and it took a couple of laps to get back to the group.”
On the crash:
Basically, the second roundabout going on lap two. I got on the back with Hayden so I had to overtake but on the roundabout I went too quick and just slid out and hit the deck quite hard. My shoe was stuck in my bike and it took me a while to get back up and tie my shoe again. I think I was 40-45 seconds back before I slowly made my way back up to the main group. I think I was there with two laps to go and tried to recover a bit from it and then had a good T2 and really went for it. Then the heat got the better of me and I had to go into survival mode. It’s also the time when you start to feel the crash; it’s all good until the adrenaline dies off and then you start to struggle. The hip hurts, elbow hurts. Anyway, I’m happy I still came second.”
On Hayden:
“To be honest it’s not been much of a battle yet. At least it was for 6km, maybe 6 and a half [of the run]. I believe that I can do more, I definitely feel my shape is going down with all the racing. I’m going to take a break now and do a good training block leading into 70.3 Worlds in Marbella and then Qatar for the Final and really want to be in contention for the win in both races and really give Hayden a fight until the end.”
Third placed Jonas Schomburg (GER):
“I’m super tired, six days after Ironman racing here with the top guys. I’m super stoked with the result. I had no expectations coming here, basically just the whole week nothing, just resting and try to recover from Nice last week. Coming here with a podium – even better.”
“I did a 5 minute swim and a 10 minute jog. That’s it basically. I tried to sleep as much as possible. Eating, sleeping, resting. It kind of worked. The swim, I had a good position and tried to play defense all day not pushing against my odds.
HOW THE RACE UNFOLDED
In the salty mediterranean waters of Oropesa del Mar, Sam Dickinson (GBR) led the first lap of the 2km swim, with Jonas Schomburg (GER) and Vincent Luis (FRA) on the feet at the head of a group that saw the first 17 athletes within 17 seconds at the 1km split.
Luis took to the front on lap 2 to string out the pack, whittling down to 15 – Hayden Wilde (NZL) the last in the group as the athletes ducked and dived from the shallows back onto the beach.
Onto the 80km, 6 lap bike and Mathis Margirier (FRA) was soon at the head of affairs, overtaken after 12km by Rico Bogen (GER) with Wilde, Margirier and Jelle Geens (BEL) in close order. However, the German was soon forced to stop and serve a 1-minute drafting penalty, Kyle Smith (NZL) also joining him for the same infraction.
That left Wilde in the lead with Bogen down to 9th and Smith 15th – both playing catch-up. That seemed to be a challenge Bogen relished as he picked off opponents and was back into 2nd by 25km only to drop his chain, losing another 20-30 seconds and falling back to 6th.
With 50km under the wheels, Margirier had built 40 seconds on the rest with Bogen back up into 2nd with Wilde, Guillem Montiel Moreno (ESP), Schomburg, Geens and Dickinson all within 10 seconds – another 1:20 to the rest of the field.
Suffering leg cramps, Margirier was drawn back into the main group, which was still gaining time on the rest of the field. Coming towards T2, Bogen was back in the lead, driving the group to establish a massive 3:10 lead.
With a blistering transition, Geens was first onto the 18km run course, leaving Wilde with 18 seconds to make up. 6km in, Wilde was up onto Geens’ shoulder with Schomburg putting on a monster performance to move up into 3rd ahead of Dickinson. Margirier was up into 5th pushing Bogen into 6th.
Geens and Wilde continued to push hard at the front, the Kiwi keeping the pressure on to accelerate ahead of the Belgian, the gap widening until Wilde was once again solo in pole position.
With 3km to go, Wilde had pushed his lead to 1:16. Geens held a minute to Schomburg with Margirier closing in and Dickinson the final athlete within 3 minutes of the front.
Wilde looked cool and collected right to the line, making it look easy as he claimed the Spain T100 Triathlon title – his 4th of the season – in 3:09:01 with the day’s fastest run of 55:58. With 4 races banked ahead of the Qatar World Championship Final, the Kiwi established a perfect score as the leader of the T100 Race To Qatar standings.
Geens came home 2nd, 2:25 behind to score 29 points, putting him 2nd in the T100 Race To Qatar standings.
Schomburg took a spectacular 3rd on debut 03:02 back, sure to secure himself an invitation for future T100 events.
Margirier was 4th, his 23 points moving him up one place to 5th in the standings, while Dickinson rounded out the top-5.
