Arzachena World Cup Review
The second World Cup of the year took place on the beautiful Italian island of Sardinia this weekend. This is the 6thtime that the race has come to Arzachena, which has become notorious for its testing bike course and great weather conditions.
The race start list consisted of some all-time greats and a lot of in-form athletes gunning for those crucial Olympic points in the run up to the Tokyo Games this summer, with racing taking place over the Sprint distance of a 750m Swim, 20km Bike and 5km run.
Men’s Race
Following impressive performances from Kristian Blummenfelt over the first two races of the season in Yokohama and Lisbon, the Norwegian was the strong favourite to maintain his winning streak. However, it was not to be, with a strong performance from some of the old guard, including Jonny Brownlee who took the win with a storming run after a great swim and bike, where a large group of athletes made their way around the bike course, with Briton Tom Bishop crashing on the climb in the chase pack.
Brownlee ended up just finishing ahead of Swiss Adrien Brifford, who previously won in Sardinia at the Cagliari World Cup, with Mario Mola pleasing many in the triathlon community with a great run to put him on the podium, just running out of tarmac in the hunt for the win. Antonio Serrat Seoane finished behind Mola in 4thplace before Matt McElroy rounded out the top five to edge himself ever so closer to one of the two remaining spots available on the US Olympic men’s team.
Women’s Race
Whilst the women’s race was missing Flora Duffy, last year’s race winner, there were several younger and less experienced athletes on the start line who were eager to prove themselves on a tough and demanding course. Brazil’s Vittoria Lopes was the leader into T1, with a small group of women following her closely out. Lisa Tertsch of Germany and Norway’s Lotte Miller were amongst the second group who came into transition a little down on the front group, but quickly caught up at the start of the bike leg to form a 12 strong front pack.
The climb on the bike course played a crucial role in separating the wheat from the chaff, with the nervous descenders stripped from the main groups, leaving nine riders in the front pack into T2. Switzerland’s Julie Derron led into T2 and was first out onto the run but was quickly caught by the German Marlene Gomez-Islinger, who ran the perfect race to win her first ever World Cup race. Derron held on for silver, 10 seconds back, whilst Verena Steinhauser won her second bronze on this course to round off the podium.
