Rui Dolores from Portugal and Maria Doring from Germany captured the fifth annual XTERRA Malta off-road triathlon elite titles with winning time of 2:24:39 and 3:16:33, respectively, on Saturday May 18, 2019 in Majjistral Nature Reserve.
For Rui Dolores it was his first ever XTERRA World Tour win, and his best result since his 3rd place at XTERRA Portugal in 2018.
The same for Maria Doring who was 11th in Cyprus this year and 9th at the 2018 XTERRA European Championship in Germany.
In the men’s race Jens Roth in a typical fashion led the entire swim, with Max Sasserath and Francois Carloni exiting the water together 40sec behind. Behind the front three were Rui Dolores and Peter Lehmann shortly followed by Geert Lauryssen, Samuel Jud and Andrea Zanenga.
Roth pushed hard right from the start of the bike and opened up a 60 second gap to Carloni within the first 4km of the bike course. He held this gap over the Frenchman until he reached the second transition, with both athletes unaware of the carnage happening behind them. Sasserath, Lauryssen and Zanenga all faced problems with flat tires and had to withdraw from the race. Lehmann had mechanical issues with his gears but was able to continue and Jud managed to fix a flat but lost some 50 minutes to the leader by the time he reached transition.
The only athlete from this group avoiding mechanical issues and making his way towards the front of the race was Dolores, who put down the fastest bike split of the day coming into transition in 3rd place.
Dolores was on fire and would pass Roth and Carloni early on in the run to take the lead. With the fastest run of the day and a big smile on his face, he crossed the finish line in first place capturing his first-ever XTERRA victory. Carloni made his move and passed a struggling Roth on the second loop of the run to finish in second place, with Roth in third. Lehmann knew that he couldn’t do anything to close the big gap and looked relaxed finishing in 4th. Jud completed the elite men’s podium finishing 5th.
“It was a really hard race and there were many guys who had punctures including myself, but I was lucky that I did not have to stop" said Dolores. "I left transition with Carloni and tried to quickly close the gap to the leader and then managed to hold on for victory.”
“It was a good race for me from the start to the finish of the bike. I felt really good on the first 2km of the run but the wind was so strong at the at the top of the cliffs. It felt like the tank was empty and when Rui passed me, I tried to follow but I had nothing left. I’m really happy to finish on the podium with two great guys, it was a good battle.” said Roth
Elite Men's Results:
1 Rui Dolores, POR 2:24:39
2 Francois Carloni, FRA 2:25:48
3 Jens Roth, GER 2:26:19
4 Peter Lehmann, GER 2:34:35
5 Samuel Jud, CZE 3:21:49
In the women’s race, XTERRA debutant Adriana Klimkova was the first woman out of the water almost two minutes ahead of Carina Wasle and more than six minutes of Maria Doring.
Klimkova found herself in difficulty very early into the bike, struggling with the technical bike course she was passed very early on by Wasle. After a DNF at XTERRA Greece, we weren’t sure how recovered Wasle would be from her injuries, but she quickly pulled out a commanding lead. However, at around 15km in, Carina had a flat tire and a broken valve issue that forced her to stop and try to fix the problem. When she realized that she couldn’t do anything, she pushed her bike for 15km to the finish line as quitting was not an option for her.
“What should have been an easy win for me at XTERRA Malta turned into a disaster. With a substantial lead already after 10km on the bike, I had huge mechanical problems. Cracked the valve and the rim, so it was irreparable" said Wasle. "I walked 20km with my bike to T2. It took me for ages, but I wanted to finish the race. After so long pushing my bike, the 10km run was no fun at all with my injured knee. But I made it to the finish line.”
The battle for the elite women’s title would now be decided between two athletes. Doring passed Klimkova on the bike and came into transition with a lead of around 10min. Doring would continue to increase her lead once onto the run and in doing so captured her first ever XTERRA win. Klimkova finished in second position with Wasle showing the spirit of a real XTERRA Warrior finishing in 3rd.
"I am really happy, It was a tough race. It was a surprise for me to win here and I hope to be back next year" said Doring
"I'm back racing after a long time out so I didn't know what my form will be" said Klimkova. "I'm satisfied with my swim but there's a lot of work to be done on bike and the run. Slowly but surely I'm getting back into shape. It will take some time but I feels like I am heading in the right direction"
Elite Women's Results
1 Maria Doring, DEU 3:16:33
2 Adriana Klimkova, CZE 3:33:09
3 Carina Wasle, AUT 4:31:50