Andreas Boecherer dominated the IRONMAN 70.3 Pays d’Aix from the swim start to the finish line, while the young Gabriella Zelinka makes a mark.
About one year after he survived a horrible bike crash, Boecherer had the best swim of the day in 23:09, an extraordinary bike split of 2:12:21, and a very consistent run of 1:16:49. It was his way to say: "I’m back into racing." It was a German day in the French Provence not only because of Boecherer’s win. Boris Stein, 2014 IRONMAN Switzerland champion, was able to show a great bike and run combination to become runner-up in Aix. He was a ways behind in the water (25:21), but he made up a lot of ground on the bike to be right in the mix when it came down to the run. Thanks to a 1:14:27 half marathon he ran into silver. When Stein crossed the line, he was only 12 seconds behind his fellow countryman. Boecherer took the victory in 3:57:21 ahead of Stein (3:57:33), Jan van Berkel from Switzerland ranked third in 3:59:30.
In the women’s race, it seemed to be on Camilla Pedersen to take a sovereign victory. She came out of the water in 25:24 with a comfortable lead of about a minute over a group of four. Then she extended her lead consistently on the bike and reached T2 with an advantage of 3:21 minutes. In runner-up position was Gabriella Zelinka from Hungary; the 24-year old took over the lead in T2. While Zelinka went straight onto the run course, Pedersen had to wait due to a penalty. The Danish 2013 IRONMAN European champion was 1:51 behind when she eventually started the run. Zelinka held her pace throughout the whole distance to winning the race in 4:33:32. After seven kilometers of the run, Alexandra Tondeur (BEL) passed Pedersen for silver.
Top 5 Men
1 Andreas Boecherer (GER): 3:57:21
2 Boris Stein (GER): 3:57:33
3 Jan van Berkel (SUI): 3:59:30
4 Ritchie Nicholls (GBR): 4:00:34
5 Domenico Passuello (ITA): 4:02:56
Top 5 Women
1 Gabriella Zelinka (HUN): 4:33:32
2 Alexandra Tondeur (BEL): 4:35:49
3 Camilla Pedersen (DEN): 4:36:37
4 Corina Hengartner (SUI): 4:48:03
5 Tineke van den Berg (NED): 4:49:25