David (Castro) Fajardo of Spain wins 2021 European Triathlon Cup in Quarteira
David (Castro) Fajardo of Spain ran to victory in the 2021 European Triathlon Cup in Quarteira, Portugal on Saturday Nov 6th in a time of 01:46:58
This was Spain’s second successive victory of the day in Quarteria following Castro’s fellow countryman Bellodi winning the Junior European Championships earlier in the day.
This is the third time within a month that the Spaniard Castro has stood on the top of the podium to collect gold. On October 10th he took the victory at the 2021 European Triathlon Cup Barcelona and then on October 30th the Spaniard earned himself the honour of becoming the 2021 World Aquathlon Champion winning again on home turf in Extremadura.
Over 60 athletes from 17 nations across the four corners of Europe descended upon the Portuguese beach resort of Quarteira, for the 2021 Europe Triathlon Cup and Mediterranean Championships.
Bathed in Algarve sunshine the athletes lined up on the beachfront for Olympic distance sea-swim with a strong group forming a snake like procession of swimmers as the athletes ran up the exit ramp to T1 bunching up into large bike pack formations as they rode along relatively 40k flat bike course. At this point it became apparent this was going to be a runner’s race to the tape.
As so it proved to be the case as the top three podiums spots went to those athletes who had the fastest 10k splits of the day: Gold to David Castro (ESP) who ran in 00:30:43 followed by Anthony Pujades (FRA) in 00:31:02 for silver and Simon Heseleit (GER) in 31:05 for the bronze.
The British duo of Harry Leleu (7th) and Fredrick Webb (9th) showed great fortitude by both taking top ten spots, although their run times do not display their PB’s so still plenty more to come from this duo next season.
Men’s 10 Top Results
| Pos | Athlete | Country | Time / Difference |
| 1 | David Castro Fajardo | ESP | 1:46:58 |
| 2 | Anthony Pujades | FRA | 01:47:09 +00:00:11 |
| 3 | Simon Henseleit | GER | 01:47:21 +00:00:23 |
| 4 | Ian Pennekamp | NED | 01:47:31 +00:00:33 |
| 5 | Ander Noain Lacamara | ESP | 01:47:51 +00:00:53 |
| 6 | Miguel Tiago Silva | BY | 01:48:00 +00:01:02 |
| 7 | Harry Leleu | GBR | 01:48:14 +00:01:16 |
| 8 | Christophe De Keyser | BEL | 01:48:19 +00:01:21 |
| 9 | Frederick Webb | GBR | 01:48:28 +00:01:30 |
| 10 | Michele Bortolamedi | ITA | 01:48:46 +00:01:48 |
