France’s Vincent Luis laid down a
huge marker for the next 18 months with a resurgent performance to land gold at
the World Triathlon Championship Series Bermuda on Sunday afternoon in
Hamilton.
It was to be the 33-year-old’s first
WTCS podium for exactly a year, his first gold since Hamburg over two years
ago, and the emotion was clear as he took the tape after running solo for the
majority of a brave 10km run.
“Last year I thought I was done and
then I got injured again, but still I’m surrounded by amazing people who
believe in me, so I just had to believe in myself as the minimum I could do,”
said an exhausted Luis. “The last lap, I was just remembering all the days I
couldn’t run.”
“When You have Alex Yee and Kristian
Blummenfelt behind you, you never know what might happen, and I had zero
expectation for my run, so I’m just really happy for myself. I knew I had to be
careful with the pace and make sure I had another bullet left for the last
lap.”
Behind him, the Spanish duo Antonio
Serrat Seoane and Roberto Sanchez Mantecon showed their run prowess once again,
both scooping remarkable debut WTCS podiums having come out of the water 28th
and 34th respectively and then patiently awaiting their moment to strike. The
pair had been in the chase bike pack for the duration of the 40km run and had
considerable ground to make up out of T2, easing through the gears to pass the
gutsy Jelle Geens and take silver and gold respectively.
In the context of the World title
chase, Geens held on for fourth, Britain’s Alex Yee in fifth with a late surge,
not quite enough to put him above Hayden Wilde in the Maurice Lacroix Rankings
with just the Championship Finals Abu Dhabi to come at the end of November to
decide the 2022 World Triathlon Champion.
The high winds that were forecast
stayed away from Hamilton on Sunday morning, but strong gusts remained and the
water was choppy as the 53 athletes lined up for the start of the two-lap, 1500m
sea swim.
Jelle Geens took to the right of the
pontoon predicting the other top-ranked athletes would stay left, and that the
returning Norwegians Kristian Blummenfelt and Gustav Iden further down the
start list would likely have to head that way as the positions were taken.
That was how it played out, and it
was soon Vincent Luis slicing through the clear water up ahead with Mark Devay
(HUN) and Vasco Vilaça (POR) for close company.
After 700m it was out onto the
pontoon and then back in, Luis taking a good look behind to see how the rest of
the field was faring, the likes of Jumpei Furuya, Vetle Bergsvik Thorn and
Jonas Schomburg already 20 seconds back, Yee 27 seconds with Blummenfelt, Geens
just behind them.
The 800m second lap saw the pace drop
a little out ahead, ten seconds separating the top eight into transition, but
it was Kyotaro Yoshikawa (JPN) with the slick T1 and out onto the bike first.
That lead eight now also included
Devay, Csongor Lehmann, Schomburg, Vilaca, Furuya and Simon Westermann with
Yoshikawa and Luis, and by the end of lap one they had 40 seconds over the
large chase pack predictably spearheaded by Blummenfelt and Iden, Jamie Riddle
off the back.
Up Flora Duffy Hill for the second
time it was Geens and Yee on the front, but even the combined talents of that
group couldn’t make any inroads on the leaders, who could even stretch that
advantage north of 50 seconds as the laps ticked by.
Lehmann couldn’t keep the pace going
and dropped back on lap three, but the chasers were finally able to close the
margin a small albeit important amount as the bell signalled one last climb and
lap ahead.
Into T2 and racking the bikes it was
Schomburg and Furuya out ahead, Luis dropping back just a little, while Geens
and Brandon Copeland (AUS) were first out giving chase on the first of the four
laps.
It was Vilaça and Schomburg setting
the early pace and they had 30m over Luis and Devay, but the two-time World
Champion was finding his flow and looking steely as he closed the gap and took
his own turn out ahead.
That ‘turn’ quickly became a
fully-fledged move, and Luis was looking smooth by the halfway mark even though
training partner Geens was seemingly closing in with every step. The gap was
now 20 seconds as the Belgian moved into second, but unfortunately for Geens,
Luis was once more showing every ounce of sheer grit and resilience that marked
his title-winning 2019 and 2020 seasons.
The effort to close in took its toll
on Geens, too, while the Spanish duo of Sanchez and Serrat were by now in full
flow. They moved into second and third respectively over the closing stages,
Yee and Blummenfelt now eyeing the Belgian.
Out ahead there was one final short,
stinging climb for Luis to negotiate, but once through it, the gold was his for
the taking, hitting the blue carpet with a ten-second advantage and taking the
tape as the emotions poured out of him.
The day’s fastest 10km run split of
30m43s saw Antonio Serrat home in silver, Roberto Sanchez in third just five
seconds ahead of Jelle Geens, Alex Yee and Kristian Blummenfelt following in
fifth and sixth. Lasse Luhrs crossed in seventh, Bence Bicsak, Gustav Iden and
Tom Richard rounding out the ten.
Results: Elite Men
1.Vincent Luis FRA01:49:37
2.Antonio Serrat Seoane ESP01:49:45
3.Roberto Sanchez Mantecon
ESP01:49:54
4.Jelle Geens BEL01:49:59
5.Alex Yee GBR01:50:04
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