From today on, the legendary ’Poggio’ hill is not any more only a part of cycling, but also of triathlon history as the ITU Triathlon Premium European Cup race in San Remo, Italy took place today.
Spint distance age group races started earlier in the morning with some hundreds of amateur athletes to compete; the elite men also made their way down quite early to the transition area located in central San Remo to prepare for their race starting at 11am.
Athletes like Ivan Rana, Daniel Fontana, Peter Croes, Andrea D’Aquino – just to mention a few names of the almost 100 men strong field headed into the water from the sandy beach to start the one-lap swim in the 17 degrees cold Mediterranean Sea. The whole pack stayed tight together almost for the whole duration, some Italian triathletes trying to force the speed. Rana and Croes had a bit of a gap to the lead in Transition 1 but fought their way back into the lead.
Despite the strong pace, Andrea D’Aquino (ITA), Zvonko Cubric (CRO) and Leonardo Ballerini (ITA) managed to break away on the Poggio and build up a gap of 1 minute and 45 seconds to the peloton. Rana stormed out of T2 like a thunder to chase down the 3 ’escapados’ on his favourite leg, the run, with Croes, Fontana, Emilio D’Aquino and Alessandro De Gasperi following. ’El Hombre Arana’ caught the race leader, D’Aquino after only 2,5 laps, forcing an extremely high pace all way long. Finally, he cruised to an easy victory, with D’Aquino gaining silver and Croes winning bronze. A high number of spectators cheered up the athletes passionately as they made their way along the San Remo Promenade.
Straight after the men’s finish, the 40 women dived into the cool waves of the Sea, with Magali Di Marco Messmer (SUI) and Ana Burgos (ESP) as biggest race favourites.
Tactics played a big role in this race, too, as Julie Dibens (GBR) got the early brake and built it up to 20 seconds on the chase pack of 2, Di Marco Messmer and Lenka Radova (CZE). The rest followed behind.
Dibens tried to stay in the lead but was caught shortly afterwards, by the main pack which already caught up with the 2 chasers earlier. Then, again, some athletes pushed the button and a group of 5 managed to get away, 3 Italian athletes plus Messmer and Dibens. The peloton fell apart quickly so small packs arrived in T2 to head out for the 4-lap run.
Temperatures rised to 30 degrees Celsius as Messmer took the lead ahead of Dibens and Charlotte Bonin (ITA), but Burgos and Radova made their best to catch up with this lead group.
Finally, Messmer managed to get gold, while Burgos (silver) and Radova (bronze) succeeded too; they completed today’s podium.
So today, another great venue has been introduced to the triathlon family, with the potential to host even bigger events in the future. The mediterranean ambiance and the hospitality of the local organizing committee was received with pleasure by athletes and team officials. We’re definately looking forward to come back next year for another clash on the legendary ’Poggio’…
Click here for Elite Women results.