Aurelien Raphael (FRA) sprinted to
the Arena Games Munich title in Germany, the French star finally delivering on
his promise as the pre-race favourites failed to deliver. Australia’s Max
Stapley and home hero Justus Nieschlag completed the podium.
“It was a great competition and I was
really happy to win,” said Raphael, 33, at the finish, the oldest athlete in
the field showing the multi-national field a clean pair of heels on the final
run leg to secure the victory, yet another for France in SLT history.
The men’s race came down to a
showdown on the final 1km run leg of Stage 3. Five athletes were all in
contention, but 2007 junior world champion Raphael powered to the front,
rolling back the years as the pre-race favourites Alex Yee and Marten Van Riel,
languished in the final places.
Stage 1’s 200m swim witnessed
Aurelien Raphael control the pace at the front, but America’s brilliantly-named
Chase McQueen was first to exit the water ahead of the Frenchman.
Onto the Tacx turbo trainers, and the
big news was Tokyo Olympics gold and silver medallist Alex Yee dropping off the
rear, 4secs adrift at the 1km stage. Bar Yee, the contenders were all in a
group, a magnificent multisport seven drafting together on the Zwift circuit in
a bid to drop the formidable runner. The 24-year-old’s deficit was 10secs onto
the run. How much would riding alone without the benefit of slipstream harm
Yee’s chances on the run?
Raphael would lead the field ahead of
Super League regular Marten Van Riel of Belgium on Stage 1’s 1km run, but the
big talking point was Gordon Benson’s technical treadmill troubles.
A pause in proceedings gave both
athletes and spectators a breather on Stage 2’s 1km run as Gordon Benson’s
treadmill was experiencing technical difficulties. All were running faster than
20km/h and Yee was instantly back in the mix – also present was Aussie Max
Stapley, but Yee would be first onto the turbos for Stage 2.
As Benson and McQueen pushed the
tempo, Belgian star Marten Van Riel was a casualty of the 4km bike’s frenetic
pace, falling off the back and some 20secs down by the finale. There would be
much to play for on the final 400m swim.
German star Justus Nieschlag had been
lurking out of the lead positions but came to the fore on the swim, the 2020
Arena Games Rotterdam champion touching the wall first to win Stage 2 ahead of
McQueen.
The Pursuit-style start of Stage 3
would see Raphael hold a 4sec advantage over Stapley and McQueen, with
Nieschlag also within touching distance. The two pre-race favourites had plenty
to do, with Yee 13secs back and Van Riel 27secs in arrears.
That order of Raphael, Stapley,
McQueen and Nieschlag would remain at the end of the 200m pool swim, the
athletes taking to the bike without even clipping into the bike shoes, such was
the intensity of the racing. Also in the reckoning was the reigning Italian
national champion, Gianluca Pozzatti. In contrast to the women’s event, the
Arena Games Munich victory would come down to a 1km all-out sprint between five
international contenders from Germany, Italy, France, Australia and the USA.
To raucous home applause, Nieschlag
was first to launch onto the treadmill ahead of Raphael. Yet it was the French
star who powered to the front by the halfway stage and continued to hold the
advantage to the finishing line, holding off Stapley by just 1.2secs and
Nieschlag by 5.3secs. Pozzatti and McQueen would complete the top five, but the
bragging rights would belong to Raphael. A fascinating battle awaits in London
on the 23rd of April.
Heats
Two-time Arena Games champion Marten
Van Riel had to produce a big Stage 2 of the first Heat to ensure qualification
for the finals of Arena Games Triathlon powered by Zwift in Munich after a
shaky start.
Van Riel, who won back-to-back Arena
Games in 2021, struggled with his shoes in Stage 1 and dived in for Stage 2’s
pursuit start in fifth place. However, he managed to overcome his deficit with
a huge swim and went on to finish second to the dominant Aurelian Raphael and
secure and an automatic qualification for the final along with Italy’s Gianluca
Pozzatti who was two seconds ahead of Chase McQueen.
Heat 2 was a more straightforward
affair for the big favourite Alex Yee. He did enough to win with gas still in
the tank. Fellow Brit Gordon Benson, who impressed in Arena Games action in
London in 2021, stuck with him most of the way for second while Justus
Nieschlag, the 2020 champion, was third in what was somewhat of a shut-out.
The two fastest losers both came from
Heat 1 with Chase McQueen joined in the final by fifth place Max Stapley.
Results: Elite Men
1. Aurelien
Raphael FRA 00:34:20
2. Max
Stapley AUS 00:34:21
3. Justus
Nieschlag GER 00:34:26
4. Gianluca
Pozzatti ITA 00:34:31
5. Chase
Mcqueen USA 00:34:34
ABOUT WORLD TRIATHLON
World Triathlon is the international
governing body for the Olympic and Paralympic sport of triathlon and all
related multisport disciplines around the world, including duathlon, aquathlon,
cross triathlon and winter triathlon. Triathlon made its Olympic debut in
Sydney 2000, with a third medal event, the Mixed Team Relay, added to the
programme at Tokyo 2020, while para triathlon was first added to the Paralympic
programme at Rio 2016. World Triathlon is proudly committed to the development
of the sport worldwide, with inclusion, equality, sustainability and
transparency at our core as we seek to help triathletes at all levels of the
sport to be extraordinary.
No comments:
Post a Comment