A gorgeous fight unfolded in between Marten van Riel and Sam Laidlow: the PTO T100 in Ibiza revealed an amazing and amazing fight and in the end the triumph went to Van Riel, who assaulted in the last kilometers and therefore chose the race in his favor.
The 2 kilometer swim was instantly led by Van Riel, who headed for the bike after 24:46 minutes. The Belgian, simply back from the Olympics in Paris, was straight followed by numerous huge names, however likewise saw other huge names such as Youri Keulen dealing with a substantial deficit immediately. On the bike, a leading group of about 10 guys at first formed, however thanks to the high speed of Sam Laidlow, the group weakened to 6: in addition to Laidlow, Rico Bogen, Alistair Brownlee, Mika Noodt, Frederic Funk and Van Riel were amongst them.
Laidlow and Funk pull through, time charge Brownlee
Laidlow started to set a high speed at the front, however after forty kilometers– midway through– he provided a clear signal to the other 5 males in front: “Take over”. After everybody took a look at each other for a while and Laidlow merely stopped pedaling, Funk lastly took the effort and got the rate. Not much later Brownlee got a one-minute time charge for preparing and so the Brit lost connection with the leading group.
It stayed Funk who pressed on at the front, however with a couple of kilometers to go Laidlow reclaimed the effort. Together with Bogen, Van Riel, Funk and Noodt, he ultimately entered T2.
Great fight Van Riel and Laidlow
Throughout the run, after Bogen led for a kilometer, it was quickly clear that 2 males were the greatest: Van Riel and Laidlow. It was the Frenchman who preserved a high speed through the narrow, winding and sloping courses of Ibiza, while Van Riel at first restricted sight to following his rival. In any case, the rate was high and the guys behind the 2 leaders saw their space boost to a minute or more in the very first 7 kilometers.
The run stayed interesting into the last kilometers, as Van Riel and Laidlow were still running side by side after 15 kilometers. With just 3 kilometers to go, Van Riel put a very first major velocity, right in a descent, and while doing so he seriously injured Laidlow. The Frenchman attempted to capture up, however was not able to do so.
Van Riel won the race in 3:11:36, Laidlow was 2nd in 3:12:02 and Noodt 3rd in 3:13:30.