French triathlon star Cassandre
Beaugrand made an impactful comeback to the World Triathlon Championship Series
podiums to claim the victory this Saturday at the 2022 AJ Bell Leeds,
outrunning the powerful British squad on home soil. A month after the
disappointment of not finishing the previous race, Beaugrand sprinted to
victory despite having to stop during 10 seconds to serve a penalty, with local
stars Georgia Taylor-Brown and Sophie Coldwell claiming the other two places on
the podium.
Waterloo Lake saw another full start
list this Saturday, with 55 women lining up for a 750m wetsuit swim and the
water slightly above 17 degrees, and it was a great swimmer, Cassandre
Beaugrand, the one who moved first, followed by Flora Duffy (BER), Taylor
Spivey (USA) and Vittoria Lopes (BRA).
To many’s surprise, another excellent
swimmer, Georgia Taylor-Brown, was a little behind the lead group in the water,
as well as Coldwell and Sian Rainsley. But the long run uphill to transition
from the swim exit ended up being one of the key moments of the race. Coldwell
flew in the 250m on the blue carpet and through the first transition, and a
small quartet with Duffy, Spivey, Beaugrand and Coldwell led out on their bikes
with a few meters difference.
By the time the group made it to the
top of the hill for the first time, they were almost 15 seconds ahead of the
chasers, and when they finished the first lap it had increased to half a
minute. behind them, Beth Potter (GBR), Taylor-Brown, Lotte Miller (NOR) and Kirsten
Kasper (USA) were trying to organise the chase, but with not much luck.
With Coldwell, Spivey and Duffy
pushing hard on the uphills and showing impressive bike skills on the downhill,
on the second bike lap they dropped Beaugrand, who after a couple of kilometers
riding solo waiting for the group and pushed up in front along with Potter.
Next one to be dropped would be Duffy, not able to follow Coldwell’s and
Spivey’s impressive pace, and also to be catched by the chasers.
By the time the leading duo made it
to the second transition, the difference with the chasers was almost 40
seconds, and it looked like the chase pack will be fighting just for the bronze
medal, but 5km running on the hills of Roundhay Park can be very long.
Coldwell quickly dropped Spivey while
behind her, Beaugrand and Taylor-Brown started the chase, the French woman
knowing that she would have to serve a 10 seconds penalty for a mount violation
in T1. Not even the loud cheers for Coldwell were enough to get her up to the
speed that Beaugrand set, flying in the course passing Spivey first, and then
Coldwell, to fly solo in the last 2km, trying to increase the distance with the
chasers. The 10 seconds in the penalty box just a few meters before the finish
line seemed like an eternity for the Frenchwoman, but she managed to serve the
penalty and still leave the box ahead of Taylor-Brown and Coldwell, enough to
cross the finish line almost in tears.
“To be fair, I can’t believe it right
now. I was just very focussed on my race and after Yokohama (when I crashed) it
was quite hard for me because I was in good shape. I wanted it so much, I
worked so hard and I just wanted it to pay off, I am very happy with my win
today, ” she said. “I crossed my fingers that I had enough gap at the end, I didn’t
even want to know how far away they were, ” she explained after serving the
penalty and still getting the victory.
Second on the finish line was Georgia
Taylor-Brown, enough to maintain her on top of the Maurice Lacroix World
Triathlon Championship Series Rankings for another two weeks at least, until
the next stop in WTCS Montreal. “I was told at the top end of the run course
that she (Beaugrand) had a penalty, one of the coaches said she has a penalty
so don’t go with her. I still went with her. I paid for it. I can’t run at
Cassandre’s (Beaugrand) speed, I know that for sure but I went out with her on
the first lap, I definitely paid for it but I managed to just hold on,” said
the Brit, who was extremely happy to see the crowds back cheering at the park.
“It’s incredible. All you hear is your name being shouted at literally every
part of the course, it was just amazing. Everyone really gets behind you here
and it just feels really special, it gives me goosebumps to be out there
racing”.
Coldwell was also all smiles when she
crossed the finish line in the third place, the same place she got in Leeds
last year. “I knew the girls were classy runners and I am probably not firing
all cylinders in running yet so I tried to put as much in them on the bike and
probably paid for it for a bit on the run but you just have to play with your
cards sometimes and that’s what I did.”
A downhill sprint gave American
Taylor Spivey the fourth place just inches ahead of another British, Beth
Potter, who had one of the fastest run splits of the day, only behind the
astonishing 16.10 -including the 10secs stop- of Beaugrand. Laura Lindemann
finished in the 6th place, followed by Duffy, Anabel Knoll (GER) and Julie
Derron (SUI) closing the top ten.
Results: Elite Women
1. Cassandre
Beaugrand FRAFRA Flag 00:59:03
2. Georgia
Taylor-Brown GBRGBR Flag 00:59:12
3. Sophie
Coldwell GBRGBR Flag 00:59:15
4. Taylor
Spivey USAUSA Flag 00:59:22
5. Beth
Potter GBRGBR Flag 00:59:22
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.
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