The scenario looked like customized for the Swiss double Olympic medalist Nicola Spirig to continue with her winning strike, and she just delivered. With the sun hitting hard in the stunning Geneva Lake, Spirig showed once more her class to take the win at the 2018 ITU Lausanne World Cup cheered by thousands of spectators, delighted with her dominance of the race. Behind her, two-time junior World Champion Taylor Knibb claimed the silver medal, while Italian Verena Steinhauser finished in third place.
It was the British Lucy Hall who managed to leave the swim in first place, followed quite closely by Dutch Maya Kingma. Only a few seconds behind, the double U23 World Champion, Tamara Gorman (USA) looked like the one to beat today, pushing really hard to try to break away early on the bike course, knowing what was coming behind.
Because all the field knew that this bike course looked like made for Spirig. One of the strongest bikers of the circuit, the tough hills of Lausanne, which the athletes had to go up 14 times, proved to be so demanding that the three leaders were quickly caught by the group, led by the Swiss, never looking back and always pushing even when going up.
With Spirig always leading, accompanied by Taylor Knibb, Verena Steinhauser and Mathilde Gautier (FRA), by the third lap the small group had built up a consistent lead that ended up in almost two minutes by the end of the 40 km bike ride. Behind them, a large chase group looked too big to try to work to reduce the time difference, and the women started saving some legs for the 10km run.
And it was right after the second transition where Spirig didn’t even look back to see what the other three were going to do. The Swiss, cheered by thousands of spectators, included her husband and her two young kids, left solo and no one was able to follow her, to finish with a 36’04’’ run under the challenging heat, the second best split of the day.
Behind her, only Knibb was able to keep for a bit the pace of the Swiss, but Nicola knew the time difference with her and maintained a 30 seconds gap to cross the line in the first place, all smiles, for much delight of the local crowds. Behind her, Knibb, who had had the fastest split on the bike, got her first podium of the season, while for the third woman on the finish line, Steinhauser, this was her second bronze medal of the World Cup season.
In fourth place, another veteran, Barbara Riveros (CHI), back on top five places after almost two years out of competition due to several injuries.
“This was surely not an easy win. I had cramps everywhere, even in the fingers. I tried to still go fast and taking it step by step, but it wasn’t easy”, said Spirig after the race. “It was amazing to win here. I had so much support from the crowds. Perfect weather, perfect scenery, ... it was just perfect. I had my first European Championship back in 1998 here in Lausanne, and it’s amazing to be back. The bike course was crazy. I hadn’t seen so many movements and attacks in a while. Taylor Knibb was really strong and when she attacked I decided to try to stay with her, and it ended up being a great decision. But in the run the legs felt pretty bad, and until I had like almost 40 seconds with the second one I was not confident and I was able to then enjoy the last meters”, she explained.
For Knibb Lausanne “wasn’t a perfect race, but is getting there”. “It was a nice race, and it was great that I was able to put it up altogether. I still need to improve on the swim, but we are getting there. Knibb, who has to “come back to school in five days”, said that this podium “it’s coming out just at the right time”. “It was a really hard course. I wasn´t confident in the bike course, but I knew that everyone was feeling the same. It’s really nice to have such a course, it’s really honest. And after the bike course, I knew that I was not gonna feel great, but that’s better for me to keep a little speed on my legs”.
Verena Steinhauser said: “This was the hardest race I’ve ever done. The course is amazing, the whole location is amazing, the bike course is really, really hard, but I really liked it. I tried to push on the run but I didn’t have the legs. I’m especially happy after the tragedy that we had back home in Genova last week, and I really want to dedicate this podium to all the victims, I hope this brings a bit of joy for my fellow Italians”.
Results: Elite Women
1. Nicola Spirig SUI 02:05:11
2. Taylor Knibb USA 02:06:02
3. Verena Steinhauser ITA 02:06:25
4. Barbara Riveros CHI 02:07:16
5. Julia Hauser AUT 02:07:28