Vasco Vilaca back to winning ways in Coimbra European Triathlon Cup Portugal

Portugals Vasco Vilaça, showed he is back to winning ways with a triumphant victory on his home-soil in the European Triathlon Cup held at Parque da Canção, in the University City of Coimbra. 

Vasco Vilaça finished the race with a time of 50.44 minutes, six seconds ahead of his fellow countryman Ricardo Batista (50.50), who was second, and 18 seconds over the Belgian Christophe de Keyser (51.02), who finished in third position. 

After Vasco Vilaca’s breakthrough season last year which saw him take the World Triathlons runner up spot and fourth on the World rankings his spectacular form has eluded him in subsequent races. However, for all his early success last year at the age of 20 the former European title winning junior athlete and runner up at the World Junior Championship could well have been viewed to be punching above his weight.  

Nonetheless, Vasco Vilaca is a proven championship performer of immense talent and is on a steep learning curve to maintain the consistency needed to remain in the top ten World ranking. The European Triathlon Cup in Coimbra was just the right stage for the young Vasco Vilaca to show he is a big player who embraces pressure and does not shy away from taking the race from the front. There can be no question he will be one to watch out for on the future stage of World Triathlon. 

An in-depth Tri-Nation interview with world number 2 Vasco Vilaça

For the British men contingent it was expected that the heat under a strong Mediterranean sun would be the principal enemy to deal with as the bike and run race courses are very flat and very fast. As it transpired it was rain that made the bike leg of the course tricky, unpredictable and difficult to handle. Regrettably, it was GB’s Sam Hart, whose strong swim in 00:09.05 put him up with the leaders, who succumbed to the dangers, coming off his bike in the early stages leaving him with a DNF. 

It was up to the other GB squad members to make their mark on the race but none made the front pack on the bike leg and the chase pack were unable catch the leaders as they headed into T2. Onto the run and it was very much a case of catch up or damage limitation. Cameron Main fresh from his European Cup Podium Bronze in Dipro showed his running prowess by running through the field in a time of 00:15:15 to take a commendable 10th place with another solid performance by Jack Willis making the top twenty in 17th place. 

The British contingent in the field finished as follows: 

Cameron Main 10th 

Jack Willis 17th 

Cameron Harris 23rd 

Fredrick Webb 28th 

Oliver Turner 35th 

Guy Evans-Haggerty 38th 

Sam Hart – (DNF) 

Full Race Results HERE