The Swiss women's champion impresses while the Swedish men’s champion strikes late.
Smart tactics pay off a lot in long-distance events. Swede Patrik Nilsson was working hard for the win at IRONMAN 70.3 Barcelona, but moreover, was waiting long for the right moment to make his move. When Guillem Rojas (ESP) led the men’s pro field out of the water in 23:25, Nilsson was in 11th, but only 11 seconds behind and already in the mix.
On the bike, it was on him, Germany’s Maurice Clavel, and Sylvain Sudrie (FRA) to make an early break away from the strong pro field including fast runners and weaker swimmers like Alessandro Degasperi (ITA). On the second half of the bike, Clavel pushed to open up a gap to his two chasers. After being runner-up at the IRONMAN 70.3 Pays d’Aix three weeks ago, he was hungry for the win. Clavel had a strong run, but with three kilometers to go Nilsson made a decisive attack and sprinted, making the ultimate strike for the title. Behind those two, Sudrie secured third place.
The women’s race became a real "Emma day" on the bike and run. American Heather Lendway and Carina Brechters (GER) seemed to be a bit off and away after the swim in 24:40, but the tough bike course generated a lot of position changes.
Emma Bilham had the best bike split by far and was in the lead after only a third of the hilly bike course. She started into the run with an advantage of seven minutes over Binaca Steurer (AUT) and Swiss Regula Rohrbach. Bilham eventually had no problems running home the victory; Pallant moved into runner-up position very early, ahead of Steurer.
Top 5 Pro Men
1 Nilsson, Patrik SWE 4:04:55
2 Clavel, Maurice DEU 4:05:30
3 Sudrie, Sylvain FRA 4:11:22
4 Zyemtsev, Viktor UKR 4:12:38
5 Degasperi, Alessandro ITA 4:12:45
Top 5 Pro Women
1 Bilham, Emma CHE 4:38:42
2 Pallant, Emma GBR 4:41:32
3 Steurerr, Bianca AUT 4:49:58
4 Walter, Verena DEU 4:53:12
5 Bartlett, Nikki GBR 4:53:24