New Zealand’s Hayden Wilde held off Belgium’s Jelle Geens in a hard fought but picturesque French Riviera T100 Triathlon, to complete the first part of his ‘French Double’ attempt. Tomorrow the Olympic silver medalist will tow the line in the French Riviera World Triathlon Championship Series (WTCS) sprint distance race.
In the 2km sea swim held in the gorgeous waters off Frejus, Morgan Pearson (USA) took to the front, leading the way through the sun-drenched water. First onto dry land in 24:47, the American was closely followed by T100 debutant Sam Dickinson (GBR) and Kyle Smith (NZL), a big group on their heels including Jelle Geens (BEL), Rico Bogen (GER), Mathis Margirier (FRA) and London T100 champion Hayden Wilde (NZL).
Dickinson was first onto two wheels for the 80km bike course and there was the de rigeur jockeying for position as the lead group established itself and shed any hangers-on. As the stunning coastal roads continued towards the foot of the route’s major 10km climb, that front pack was set as Wilde, Bogen, Margirier, Dickinson and Geens.
As the gradients increased, Wilde and Bogen pushed it hard creating a gap on the rest over the challenging climb and technical descent. That pair went on to enter T2 in close order – Bogen setting the day’s fastest bike split of 1:47:17. Margerier was in 3rd, 30 seconds behind, with another 20 seconds to Dickinson and Geens.
Wilde quickly gapped Bogen as the 18km run got underway, his lead growing with apparent ease. Geens had soon made up his deficit, flying past Bogen and into second.
At around 6km, Dickinson was next in line to overtake the German and move into the podium placings in his first T100 outing. Bogen held on gamely, not letting the Brit get more than a few steps ahead for the next couple of kilometres before dropping away and eventually being overtaken by Margirier, the highest ranked athlete on home soil.
A last ditch acceleration from Geens forced Wilde to up his pace to the line but the Kiwi remained in cool control, finishing in 3:12:23 after a 58:12 run to take his 3rd T100 victory from 3 races this year. Putting a 3rd score on the board saw Wilde jump up 3 spots to 2nd in the T100 Race To Qatar standings.
Geens came home 22 seconds later to claim 2nd, adding a 4th race to his 2025 tally and retaining his top-spot in the T100 Race To Qatar standings.
Dickinson finished strongly to make the T100 podium on his first time of asking with Margirier coming 4th and Bogen 5th – the German retaining 3rd in the T100 Race To Qatar standings.
Meanwhile Morgan Pearson – who, along with Hayden Wilde, is set to race the World Triathlon Championship Series event tomorrow – came home in 6th with the day’s fastest run split of 57:10.
| Position |
Athlete |
Finish |
T100 Race To Qatar Points |
Prize Money |
| 1 |
H Wilde |
3:12:23 |
35 |
$25,000 |
| 2 |
J Geens |
3:12:45 |
29 |
$17,000 |
| 3 |
S Dickinson |
3:14:07 |
26 |
$13,000 |
| 4 |
M Margirier |
3:14:55 |
23 |
$10,500 |
| 5 |
R Bogen |
3:15:15 |
20 |
$9,000 |
| 6 |
M Pearson |
3:17:16 |
18 |
$8,000 |
| 7 |
G Barnaby |
3:18:27 |
16 |
$7,000 |
| 8 |
W Hirsch |
3:18:30 |
14 |
$6,000 |
| 9 |
A Benito Lopez |
3:19:02 |
12 |
$5,000 |
| 10 |
M Koolhaas |
3:19:54 |
11 |
$4,500 |
| 11 |
L Bergere |
3:20:23 |
10 |
$4,000 |
| 12 |
K Smith |
3:22:29 |
9 |
$3,500 |
| 13 |
N Mann |
3:23:02 |
8 |
$3,000 |
| 14 |
D Magnien |
3:23:16 |
7 |
$2,500 |
| 15 |
S Long |
3:23:36 |
6 |
$2,000 |
| 16 |
C Szuch |
3:26:02 |
5 |
$1,500 |
| 17 |
J Nieschlag |
3:32:02 |
4 |
$1,250 |
| 18 |
H Palmer |
3:32:59 |
3 |
$1,000 |
| 19 |
P Heemeryck |
3:36:19 |
2 |
750 |