Will Draper continued his Challenge Family success story, taking the win at Challenge Salou-Costa Daurada in supreme fashion. In the women’s race, it was defending champion Elisabetta Curridori who struck again and, after an impressive race, raised the finish tape above her head with a successful title defense.
In the men’s race, a large group of athletes emerged from the water close to each other, including men such as Enzo Bourdon (FRA), Malachi Cashmore (GBR), Jack Hutchens (GBR), Harry Palmer (GBR), Rostislav Pevtsov (UKR), Arthur Berland (FRA), Briac Tencé (FRA), Thomas Teofili (FRA), and title defender Thomas Davis (GBR). However, the group quickly thinned out on the bike. This was mainly due to the high pace set initially by Palmer, followed shortly after by his compatriot Hutchens. The two rode the first kilometres at speeds of around 60kph on the fast rolling course, successfully forcing an initial serious selection.
Initially, Palmer and Hutchens were followed by six competitors, but after one of four bike laps, it was the fellow Brit Will Draper who came on strong. As if it were nothing, he managed to close the gap to the front, join his compatriots, and immediately blast past them. Seemingly tireless, Draper hammered on mercilessly, instantly dropping Palmer and Hutchens again. During the remaining 65km on the highways of Salou, he continued to increase his lead.
Halfway through the bike leg, Draper had managed to take a forty-second lead, but with about 20km to go, the gap had already increased to more than two minutes. Yet Draper apparently still didn’t think that was enough, because once back in T2, his lead over Hutchens and Palmer was already 2:25 minutes, while Finn Grosse-Freese (GER) had meanwhile moved up to fourth place, riding only twenty seconds behind the two chasing Britons.
During the run, it quickly became clear that Draper hadn’t fired all his shots yet; he even shouted that he still had an extra gear left, and in the first running kilometres, he managed to increase his lead by another minute to over 3:30 minutes. Meanwhile, Hutchens appeared to be the strongest of the pursuers, but it was Frenchman Arthur Berland who was moving forward in a more than impressive manner. Halfway through the run, Berland had moved up to second position, passing Hutchens, who in turn dug in and wouldn’t let the Frenchman go.
While Draper ultimately ran to a clear victory, Hutchens settled the score with Berland in the exciting final kilometers, as Berland could not hold on within sight of the finish. Draper won the race in 3:36:11, followed by Hutchens in second place (3:37:47) and Berland in third position (3:38:23).
Curridori does it again in the women’s race
There was also no lack of excitement in the women’s race, although it was initially local favourite, Marta Sanchez who led the way for a long time. Supported by the home crowd, the Spanish athlete naturally took the lead during the swim and built a forty-second gap over Jasmine Holmes (GBR), with women like Juliette Lucet (FRA), in her first pro race, Brooke Gillies (GBR), Morgan Branchoux (FRA), Macarena Salazar (CHL), Milan Agnew (AUS), and Maaike Vooren (NED) following shortly behind. Defending champion Elisabetta Curridori (ITA) followed further back, facing a gap of one and a half minutes.
Sanchez also started the bike leg strongly and remained in the lead for a long time; in fact, her lead initially grew slightly. While Curridori very quickly biked her way into second place, she just as quickly ended up in a chasing group that included Agnew and Lucet. For a moment, this group’s gap to Sanchez increased to about a minute and a half, but halfway through the bike leg, Sanchez began to lose her lead, and only twenty seconds of it remained. A few kilometers later, the three women caught up to the leader, and this group of four frontrunners all came into T2 together.
At the start of the half marathon, it was Lucet who boldly took the lead after a quick transition, but it didn’t take long for Curridori to reclaim it. At that point, only Agnew could keep up, but slowly but surely, Curridori continued to pull away by a few extra seconds. Halfway through the run, the difference was already forty seconds, and after three of the four running laps, the gap was one minute. For Curridori, who was defending her title today, the final kilometres could therefore become a victory lap.
Curridori won the race in a time of 4:04:02, while Agnew finished second in 4:04:42. In the closing metres of the race, Sanchez caught Lucet in battle for third, claiming the bronze in a time of 4:08:23, only ten seconds ahead of Lucet.