Hanne de Vet completed a remarkable eight days for the Wilde-De Vet household as she held on to win IRONMAN 70.3 Emilia-Romagna at the weekend – following partner Hayden Wilde’s victories at the 70.3 World Championship and T100 French Riviera.
The Belgian secured her first win of the season on Sunday before then revealing how good it felt to be able to ‘keep up with the household’.
Without a victory since taking the tape at last year’s Challenge The Championship in Samorin, she had travelled to Italy looking for some sort of redemption after admitting that her performance at the 70.3 Worlds – finishing back in 21st – was disappointing.
‘Gotta keep up with the household’
And when your fiancé is reeling off win after win, it must be nice to finally join him on the top step of a podium.
Posting on Instagram, she confirmed: “That felt bloody damn good taking the win in Italy 70.3 today.💥 Gotta keep up with the household. 😉
“I wanted to prove to myself the body was fitter than the performance I showed last week at Worlds.
“I made the mistake of dropping down from altitude too early/late before Nice and wanted to take that advantage yesterday; it was a great idea after taking the win. 😃 Very hot day on course, awesome crowds, and Italy loves to throw an event. 🥵”
It also completed a fine weekend for the ‘Andorra squad’ of athletes who train and spend time at altitude in the mountains, with Aussie Cameron Wurf also picking up a win in his full-distance IRONMAN Maryland.
‘Productive weekend for the squad
Indeed, a further post on Instagram from Wurf celebrated their success and stated, “Productive weekend for the squad T100 70.3 IRONMAN,” and then took a jibe at the much-celebrated Norwegian Method by saying, “The Andorra Method in full force”.
Kiwi Wilde now has the opportunity to deliver even more success for the group as he prepares for his fourth race in as many weeks at the WTCS Finals in Pontevedra, Spain, on Sunday.
His three events so far in September have seen him finish second at the Supertri Pro Series Final before winning both the 70.3 Worlds in Nice and the T100 French Riviera at the weekend to strengthen his grip on the T100 crown.
De Vet opened with a 25:47 swim in Italy before joining Germany’s Lena Meissner at the front of the race on the bike. The pair reached T2 more than five minutes clear of their closest challengers, leaving the podium contenders with a sizeable deficit to overcome.
De Vet wins ahead of Duvoisin
Meissner, however, withdrew during the opening kilometres of the half-marathon, leaving De Vet alone at the front. Loanne Duvoisin steadily reduced the gap but ran out of road, with De Vet taking victory in 4:08:16 – one minute and 22 seconds ahead of the Swiss athlete – while Italy’s Francesca Crestani finished third in 4:18:04.
De Vet and Wilde announced their engagement in December of last year after he proposed during a candlelit champagne picnic on the beach. No date has been publicly announced for their wedding.
