The swim, as usual was packed solid. Andi Boecherer (GER) and Sylvain Surdie (FRA) led the way and had a 30 second lead over a group which included the likes of Ospaly (CZE), Van Berkel (CHE), Cartmell (GBR), Nicholls (GBR) and Frenchmen Pannier, Bigot, Jarriage, André and Guillaume. Fernandez and Rota were 10 seconds back of that group. Domenico Passuello (ITA) and Boris Stein (GER) had a 2 minute gap to make up following the swim.
It hardly took any time at all for Boecherer to show his intentions by setting the pace on the bike. The likes of Sudrie, Gambles and Van Berkel attempted to keep up, but to no avail. Boris Stein was the only one with a bike split that measured up to Boecherer’s.
30km into the ride, a group of 12 athletes formed behind Boecherer, including Cartmell, Rota, Banti, Pannier, Nicholls, Ospaly, Nicholls, Verstraete, Steger, Passuello and Stein.
Sylvain Sudrie and Jan Berkel found themselves in no man’s land between this group and the lead cyclist. They were at one point able to cut the gap to Boecherer to 30 seconds. This was short lived however as the German accelerated near the end to ensure a good lead going into T2.
The duo of Sudrie and Berkel were eventually caught up to by s, Stein and Passuello. Boechere came off the bike with a 2:35 lead over Stein who came off the bike in the second position followed by Passuello, Weiss (AUT), Sudrie and Berkel who were roughly 3:20 back of the lead.
The race leader began the run with an aggressive pace in an attempt to discourage the chasers and to maintain his lead. Boecherer’s lead eventually started to decrease after the half-way mark of the run. The German would see his lead dwindle down to 1 minute with 4km to go, but he would be able to maintain his lead all the way to the finish line. Stein was second to cross the finish line, only 12 seconds back of Boecherer. Sudrie is the first Frenchman to cross the finish line in 6th place followed by Romain Guillaume who placed 11th.
The women’s race is likely to be characterized by controversy. Danish favorite Camilla Pedersen was given a 5 minute penalty for drafting, which would prove costly in her quest to win the event. The incident involved an age group athlete which makes the whole thing that much more concerning and opens up a can of warms when it comes to the short amount of time separating the women’s pro field with the first AG waves.
Gabriella Zelinka (HUN) won the race stopping the clock at 4:33:32. Alexandra Tondeur (BEL) finished third and Pedersen had to settle for the final podium position.
| SWIM | BIKE | RUN | FINISH | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BOECHERER, Andi | GER | 1 | 1 | 00:23:09 | 02:12:21 | 01:16:48 | 03:57:21 | |
| STEIN, Boris | GER | 2 | 2 | 00:25:21 | 02:12:40 | 01:14:27 | 03:57:33 | |
| VAN BERKEL, Jan | SUI | 3 | 3 | 00:23:35 | 02:16:04 | 01:15:10 | 03:59:30 | |
| NICHOLLS, Ritchie | GBR | 4 | 4 | 00:23:46 | 02:17:46 | 01:14:08 | 04:00:34 | |
| PASSUELLO, Domenico | ITA | 5 | 5 | 00:25:30 | 02:14:03 | 01:18:28 | 04:02:56 | |
| SUDRIE, Sylvain | FRA | 6 | 6 | 00:23:15 | 02:16:02 | 01:19:49 | 04:03:56 | |
| BANTI, Herve | MON | 7 | 7 | 00:23:48 | 02:17:50 | 01:18:27 | 04:04:53 | |
| PANNIER, Anthony | FRA | 8 | 8 | 00:23:42 | 02:17:54 | 01:19:53 | 04:06:19 | |
| STEGER, Thomas | AUT | 9 | 9 | 00:23:51 | 02:16:57 | 01:19:47 | 04:06:29 | |
| OSPALY, Filip | CZE | 10 | 10 | 00:23:34 | 02:19:38 | 01:19:09 | 04:07:01 | |
| GUILLAUME, Romain | FRA | 11 | 11 | 00:23:48 | 02:17:53 | 01:21:18 | 04:08:03 | |
| MORENO MOLINS, Albert | ESP | 12 | 12 | 00:25:07 | 02:22:43 | 01:15:27 | 04:08:21 |
| ZELINKA, Gabriella | HUN | 1 | 64 | 00:26:31 | 02:36:44 | 01:24:30 | 04:33:32 | |
| TONDEUR, Alexandra | BEL | 2 | 72 | 00:27:31 | 02:39:37 | 01:23:24 | 04:35:49 | |
| PEDERSEN, Camilla | DEN | 3 | 77 | 00:25:24 | 02:34:47 | 01:25:44 | 04:36:37 | |
| HENGARTNER, Corina | SUI | 4 | 141 | 00:29:53 | 02:39:09 | 01:33:08 | 04:48:03 | |
| VAN DEN BERG, Tineke | NED | 5 | 159 | 00:30:43 | 02:37:32 | 01:34:06 | 04:49:25 | |
| STEURER, Bianca | AUT | 6 | 177 | 00:28:11 | 02:41:30 | 01:36:26 | 04:51:50 | |
| CORACHAN, Judith | ESP | 7 | 212 | 00:26:46 | 02:49:24 | 01:33:50 | 04:56:03 | |
| NEUSCHELER, Evi | GER | 8 | 254 | 00:30:39 | 02:48:23 | 01:34:18 | 05:00:29 | |
| BELKADI, Laurie | FRA | 9 | 284 | 00:26:25 | 02:59:21 | 01:32:20 | 05:03:49 |