Hometown hero and XTERRA newcomer Gonzalo Tellechea joined reigning Pan Am Tour Champ and XTERRA veteran Suzie Snyder on the top step of the podium at the 2nd annual XTERRA Argentina Championship in San Juan this afternoon.
It’s the first XTERRA win for Tellechea, and the 8th in Snyder’s storied 13-year career.
XTERRA World Tour managing director “Kahuna Dave” Nicholas was on-site to take in all the action and brings us this report…
Today was about as opposite as you could get. Last year, cool and rainy, this year hot with bright sun. XTERRA Argentina came off almost flawlessly today.
The “dique” or dam was full of warm water and our athletes lined up for the swim start looking west towards the snowcapped Andes in Chile, where the show goes next week. The gun went off at exactly 10am with the elites in a non-wetsuit start one-minute ahead of the wetsuit-optional age groupers.
“The swim was a bit long,” laughed Brazilian pro Sabrina Gobbo. “I felt like I was paddling forever,” agreed Kara LaPoint.
French Canadian Jean-Philippe Thibodeau was first out of the water and onto the bike. He was followed by a group that included Frenchman Julian Buffe, American Branden Rakita and the two-time Olympian Tellechea.
Tellechea (pictured above) is a true local boy from San Juan and is an Argentine star. He represented Argentina at the 2012 and 2016 Olympics and has podiumed several times in world cup events. It did not take the local speedster long to take the lead. Tellechea, who grew up riding mountain bikes, held a comfortable lead through the technical sections about half way around the first lap.
Thibodeau held strong in second with Rakita looking good in 3rd. “Mad Maximiliano” Morales had given away over 3-minutes on the swim but was charging hard and was gaining ground, already up to 5th behind Julian Buffe.
For the women, Snyder controlled the day. She was first from the swim but about 500m out on the bike she came past me and I heard a ‘pfssst’ and sure enough she had to stop to fix a flat.
“I knew no woman had gone by but I started riding way too fast,” she said after the race. “I was a bit over my head and crashed pretty good before I told myself to calm down and ride my race.”
In second position was young French pro Morgane Riou. Morgane has been working hard on her biking skills and she was safely in 2nd place when her front wheel slipped out at a twisty bit and down she went. So, the top two women had both come off their bikes.
Kara LaPoint nearly did not start this morning. “I was so sick at 7:00 I said no way I can race today. I turned off the alarm and went back to sleep. I got up about 8:30 and felt better and said I’d give it a try.” Try she did soldiering bravely in 3rd.
The plot thickened in the men’s race with Tellechea still holding the lead and Thibodeau in second but Morales was getting close and was now up into 3rd, Branden 4th, and Buffe 5th. That’s the way it stayed going into-and-out of T2.
The race has a bike/run crossover and organizers solved this by making a bridge the runners go over and bikes go under. The evil (and fun) thing is immediately after the bridge is a 3-foot high hurdle before you head out to the desert for an agonizing 10.5K.
“Morales passed me about the 4K mark and I couldn’t stay with him,” said Thibodeau.
Morales had put in the fastest bike time and was now flying on the run. “I was not too worried about staying in front,” said Tellechea. “I know Morales and usually can run a bit faster than him, but not too far into the run my right leg starting hurting and I had to watch my pace.”
Indeed, Morales caught and passed Tellechea, making time on the up-and-down sections through the desert. Going into the last 2-kilometers the run the course follows a dry riverbed. When they got back on the flats Tellechea sprinted past Morales and the race was on. They shadowed each other for a long while before the younger man took charge to win by 25-seconds. Thibodeau kept strong into 3rd and Yank Branden Rakita came 4th. Buffe was suffering in the over 90-degree heat and dropped to 7th. Spain’s León Martin Drajer was 5th.
In the women’s race Snyder was way out front to take a very strong win and 13th overall. Riou had her best XTERRA yet with a good 2nd-place showing well ahead of the brave, but struggling Kara LaPoint. Brazilians Sabrina Gobbo and Laura Mira Dias finished 4th and 5th, respectively.
“The race today was interesting,” exclaimed Snyder. “I got a great result with a win, but it wasn’t pretty! It was definitely a ‘shake out the cobwebs and remember how to race again’ kind of day!