Flora Duffy and Vincent Luis display the pathway to Mastery at the Arzachena Triathlon World Cup in Sardinia
Bermuda’s Flora Duffy, executed a massive attack right from the get-go to gain a lead that was insurmountable to anyone and continued to race solo for an hour to win gold at the Arzachena Triathlon World Cup in Sardinia, Italy.
She was followed over the finish line by Great Britain’s own Beth Potter running her way into silver ahead of Italy’s Verena Steinhauser.
The conditions were perfect as the athletes lined up in the morning ready to race the Arzachena World Cup course, consisting of a 750m swim with an idyllic beach start followed by three laps on the 20km bike course around the town and country roads then onto the run course that took in two laps of a 2.5km section of coastal pathways finishing up in the Parco Riva Azzurra.
2019 World Champion Katie Zaferes of the USA, wearing the number one, a favourite to win the race, was a leading a strong field into the water. By the first buoy, it was Duffy who had the clear water ahead and powered back towards the beachwith Katie Zaferes in second trying to close the gap.
The short run into transition T1 confirmed a 10-second lead was already Duffy’s with Zaferes, Sara Perez Sala, Rachel Klamer and Anna Godoy Contreras looking to try and bridge the gap straight out of T1.
But the impressive Duffy stretched away and her technical brilliance allowed her to attack the downhill too, carving out a 35-second lead by the end of lap one. Behind her, Angelica Olmo, Leonie Periault and Britain’s Beth Potter had battled hard to join Zaferes, Klamer and Steinhauser, the two Spaniards dropping off the pace.
As Duffy dismounted, she had amassed an astounding lead of 50 seconds and heading into transition it was clear Duffy was on a mission. The following pack were now just vying for podium places as Klamer, Potter and Olmo exited transition looking to chased down Duffy on the run.
It was Netherlands’ Klamer who faded first, while Periault went through the gears and pull clear in third behind Potter. The Brit had a useful 6-second lead at the bell, Steinhauser, Zaferes and Olmo all hanging tough together and waiting for the right time to make a move.
Duffy continued to catapult her way forward and with a lead north of a minute soaked up the final few hundred metres in the knowledge gold was hers for the second successive World Cup, Potter came around the final corner with just enough daylight behind, Steinhauser edging Periault to the final podium spot down the blue carpet.
Olmo took fifth place ahead of Zaferes, Rachel Klamer in seventh followed by Tertsch, Denmark’s Alberte Kjaer Pedersen and Mathilde Gautier rounding out the top 10.
Full elite women’s results can be found here
Vincent Luis sent out yet another massive statement to the rest of the men’s field ahead of next year’s Tokyo Olympics as he makes it three wins from three, winning yet another gold at the Arzachena Triathlon World Cup in Sardinia, Italy.
He was followed over the finish line by Norway’s Kristian Blummenfelt who pushed Luis all the way, with Great Britain’s own, Alistair Brownlee, ending with a strong finish to take the bronze and showing he’s still in the mix and will be strong contender at the Tokyo Olympics.
As the 61 athletes lined up for the afternoon beach start all eyes were on the Frenchman wearing number 1, after his incredible form to lead from the front in both WTS Hamburg and Karlovy Vary and he was not to disappoint as he found himself in clear water on return from the buoy
The field hadn’t stretched much though, Jonas Schomburg and Pierre le Corre right with Luis, Schoeman and Jonas Breinlinger well in touch with the leaders into transition. Brownlee was 20 seconds back, Blummenfelt 35 seconds with Antonio Serrat Seone and Jelle Geens for company.
What followed over the opening stages of the bike was astonishing, as first Brownlee then Blummenfelt bridged up to the leaders, an eight-strong group including Germany’s Tim Hellwig, and Leo Bergere of France. The wind had picked up from the morning race as Schoeman dropped off the pace on lap two and joined the likes of Gabriel Sandor and Seone who had moved into striking position, Gustav Iden leading that group’s charge to get the chase pack right into contention as the second transition drew into sight.
Blummenfelt had his running shoes on fast and exited first along with Bergere and Seone, Luis right on their shoulders with Brownlee losing precious seconds struggling with his shoes but coming through ahead of Schoeman, Le Corre and Schomburg.
It was to be Luis and Blummenfelt who pushed the pace and it was only Seone able to go with them. Norway’s 2019 Grand Final winner and the World Champion then pressed on and it became a two-way shootout for the gold.
As Luis repeatedly surged, Blummenfelt responded, before making a move himself with 500m to go. There was no dropping his rival, however, and Luis then produced his trademark burst of speed to drive onto the blue carpet and guarantee his third straight win and his place at the top of the men’s triathlon tree.
Further back, Brownlee had passed Seone and was stretching into space to secure a podium of his own on the island he took gold in 2019. Seone eventually finished 17 seconds back in fourth just holding off Iden, Begere, Hellwig, Matthew McElroy, Le Corre and Sandor completing the top 10.
Full elite men’s results can be found here
It was another fantastic World Cup with a stellar line up in Arzachena, of both elite men and women triathletes, but the result was a familiar one with both Flora Duffy and Vincent Luis showing their triathlon mastery.
