The Buckinghams’ SLT Toulouse verdict – mistakes are ‘so easily done’

Almost – but not quite – flawless performances from winners Georgia Taylor-Brown and Hayden Wilde plus a whole host of talking points came out of round four of SLT in Toulouse.

And Lucy and Mark Buckingham joined us again to provide their expertise and insight on the pick of them.

The French city hosted a memorable first-ever Super League event and first up was the battle between GTB and Taylor Spivey.

“G just dominated again – I sound like a broken record!” said Lucy afterwards.

“But she had been ill beforehand and you could tell on that last run she did look back quite a bit, which normally she never does.”

“Yep, you could tell she was doing everything she could just to win it, nothing more,” agreed Mark.

Cutting it fine

There was no doubt that Spivey not taking the short chute on the first run lap (it was a ‘double’ short cut this time) added more drama into the mix in the battle for second and third between herself and Sophie Coldwell.

But Lucy pointed out: “I do not blame her for that. There are so many things to remember with Super League. And somehow she found a little bit more at the end.”

Check out the video below for more analysis from the pair – with Mark thinking we’ll see more tactical racing as Super League evolves and progresses things even further.

‘So much to remember’

And switching to the men’s race, Mark describes Wilde’s performance as “composed and convincing from start to finish – he didn’t really put a foot wrong.”

Though he does add: “If I had to be critical, the only thing I saw was him using a really heavy gear on the bike going up the hill on that last stage. But he wasn’t the only one and there’s so much to remember.”

Lucy pointed out that Jonny Brownlee, with all his experience, still had his bike helmet on going down to the swim: “But it’s so easily done in Super League.”

The pair do wonder though whether a ‘tactical’ penalty rather than going back to put it in the box could have been the better option – one to mull over!

They do have big praise again for Matt Hauser for not losing his head despite his latest episode of bad luck, instead rallying into fourth place.

Again, lots more in the video below and well worth a watch.