Karlovy Vary ITU World Cup Review
The racing at only the second World Cup of this unpredictable year took place on Sunday in the city of Karlovy Vary in the Czech Republic, with both the men and women competing in high caliber fields that included both of our 2020 World Champions from Hamburg in Georgia Taylor-Brown (GBR) and Vincent Luis (FRA). The weather in the Bohemia region was ideal for racing, with no overnight rain making the technical bike course that included a cobbled section ever so slightly less daunting.
Men’s Race
Much to my dismay, the Norwegian trio of Casper Stornes, Kristian Blummenfelt and Gustav Iden were all affected by food poisoning in the 24 hours before the race with Iden recording a DNS and after valiantly attempting to race Blummenfelt and Stornes were forced to drop out just before the run.
The swim was a strung-out affair, with Richard Varga (SVK) setting a fast-early pace to lead the first lap of two before being passed by a strong group spearheaded by Vincent Luis with just over 200m to go. Luis led into the first transition and was followed closely out onto the bike by Jonas Schomburg (GER), Mark Devay (HUN) and Kenji Nener (JPN). Over the course of the 1500m swim leg Luis had managed to put almost 60 seconds into a strong chase pack that included Richard Murray (RSA) and Jelle Geens (BEL).
By the first lap, four had become six after Vasco Vilaca (POR) and Jonas Breinlinger (GER) bridged the gap to the leaders. This group of six worked well together and quickly put time into the large chase pack after the smaller group of Bence Bicsak (HUN), Alessandro Fabian (ITA) and Alois Knabl (AUT) were swallowed up by the likes of Matt McElroy (USA), Jelle Geens (BEL) and Richard Murray (RSA). By the last lap the gap was close to 90 seconds, however a kilometer from T2 Devay and Nener collided in a dark tunnel, also catching Schomburg to leave Luis, Vilaca and Breinlinger on their lonesome going into transition.
Early in the run, Vilaca and Luis showed their class in easing away from Breinlinger. The German conceded his podium place to the fast running Geens and Murray who were flying through the center of town. Luis pulled away from Vilaca the same time that Geens made a decisive move in kicking away from Murray. The young Portuguese athlete held his ground well but couldn’t stop the Frenchman winning his second consecutive race. Vilaca recorded his third podium place in his breakthrough season after strong performances at the World Championships and Super League Arena Games with the Belgian Jeens rounding off the podium.
Women’s Race
The women raced in slightly tougher conditions than the men, with the early afternoon temperatures reaching 27 degrees. The race was taken by the scruff of the neck early on by Britain’s Jess Learmonth who showed her class early in the swim to put 20 seconds into her closest rivals going into T1.
However, after a small wetsuit malfunction she was caught by Katie Zaferes (USA) and the pair formed a strong duo early in the bike leg to stay away from a strong group including two-time world champion Flora Duffy (BER). With two laps to go, Zaferes was dropped and caught by the chase group of Maya Kingma (NED), Georgia Taylor-Brown (GBR), Victoria Lopes (BRA), Djenyfer Arnold (BRA) and Duffy. Learmonth rode strongly to stay away from the pack and made it into transition with a 17 second lead over Duffy and the struggling Zaferes.
Out on the run, it was all Flora Duffy as the Bermudian stormed to her first victory in two years after overcoming several injury problems. With Zaferes struggling behind, Georgia Taylor-Brown and Maya Kingma made a big move to reel in Learmonth. Georgia Taylor-Brown made it two consecutive podiums in a row and Maya Kingma showed her lockdown form with her maiden World Cup podium.
