Challenge St. Pölten 70.3 2021 at Motorway Speed
Sunday 30 May, will see over 100 pro triathletes line up for 70.3 Challenge St. Pölten, in Austria to race on a course built for speed as the S33 motorway forms part of the bike course.
The course is a swim leg of 1 lap of 1,9km in two different lakes with 200 meters of running in between followed by 1 lap of 90km where the S33 motorway becomes a bike route and speeds of up to 55km/per hour can be maintained for the 25km section. The two-lap run course takes the athletes through the historical city centre of St. Pölten, to the finish line.
In the men’s race, the biggest favourites seem to be Austria’s Thomas Steger racing on home-soil fresh from his win at Challenge Riccione and Germany’s Sebastian Kienle who will be looking to take gold this time round having taken third place at Challenge Riccione with a strong finishing run.
Thomas Steger (L) and Sebastian Kienle (R)
Other to watch out for are Denmark’s Magnus Ditlev, who’s been putting his name out there as a great cyclist and the Belgian Pieter Heemeryck who has yet to find his true form this season but is more than capable of winning the race.
The women race throws up some familiar names ready to do battle. Germany’s Anne Haug, Switzerland’s Imogen Simmonds, Denmark’s Maja Stage-Nielsen and Sweden’s Lisa Norden are race favourites.
Reigning Ironman World Champion Haug will be keen to do well after missing out on Challenge Miami due to coronavirus restrictions whilst Norden, who finished third during ANFI Challenge Mogan-Gran Canaria, is also a favourite for the highest step of the podium.
Unfortunately, as British athletes are not allowed to travel to Austria for the race, athletes such as Lucy Hal and India Lee have had to withdraw from the race.
