Following a recent podium finish in Auckland, Pierre Le Corre confirmed his status among the big players of the ITU circuit this weekend with a sixth place finish in Gold Coast. These two results are perhaps more significant for Team France than the recent success’ of Vidal and Hauss’ because they come on two very different Olympic distance courses. Here’s what Le Corre had to say.
Varga was the determining factor on the swim?
The swim was indeed quite complicated. I never understood how I lost contact with Polyanskiy. I’ve since replayed the swim over and over in my head to try and get a better understanding. There are several determining factors :
- Richard was extremely strong
- There was lots of current and so it was pretty hard to maintain contact with other swimmers, especially around the buoys.
- At the end of the 1st and the start of the 2nd lap, no one was really able to hold on to the swimmers that were passing them. It creates a bit of an elastic effect : the line of swimmer stretches and contracts as swimmers accelerate and slow down into the turns. It makes for a very difficult swim.
- At the beginning of the second lap, the ‘Polyanskiy’ brothers made a push to bridge the gap to Varga and Brownlee. I was able to follow, but I took the wrong trajectory at the buoy and I lost contact with Polyanskiy. I was never able to re-bridge that gap.
At this point, I knew Gomez was in my feet and I waited for him to pass me to help me catch-up to the leading group. Unfortunately, he’s not in top-shape these days and that plan didn’t pan out. I finished the swim more or less on my own, and knew that it would be a long day thereafter.
The bike was a waiting game?
We weren’t very well organised and the pulls were not consistent. We were able to maintain the gap during the first few laps. We felt we should continue to fight as long as the 3rd chase group was maintaining its 30 second gap. When that gap fell to 10 seconds (somewhere during the 3rd and 4th lap), Gomez and I decided it would be best to sit back, let them catch-up and try to work with them to catch-up to the lead group. It’s always hard to find yourself in no man’s land, between two groups that are working hard.
What were you thinking coming off the bike?
I felt it would be much harder than Auckland. The feeling just wasn’t the same. The legs were hurting and feeling heavy. I had expanded a lot of energy on the bike and I knew it would be hard for me to keep up with the leaders. Still, I kept up with their pace and was able to hold on for two laps.
What were you thinking when Mola launched his attack?
Before the climb at km 4, Mola took the lead and launched a progressive acceleration type attack. He maintained an impressive rhythm and made us all suffer quite a bit. At that moment, I felt my legs were giving up on me and I started to lose contact with the group. I found my rhythm and maintained it to the end.
Following a podium in Auckland, what does a 6th place finish mean?
It’s by no means a regression. It’s more a reflexion of the race context. It would have been hard for me to do better given the circumstances. It’s important in our sport to have an understanding of our strengths and weaknesses, as well as those of our competitors. It’s encouraging when it comes to my present form, but I also realize that I still have room for improvement in all three disciplines, improvements that will help me regularly get closer to the podium.