It was going to take something extraordinary for Hayden Wilde to be beaten in a T100 race this season.
The Kiwi has been utterly dominant when he’s been fit to race – winning the opener in Singapore and then taking four on the bounce after a remarkable return from a horror bike crash when he was hit by a truck in Japan.
With the fourth of those victories he’d already racked up a perfect score of 140 going into the Grand Final in Qatar in December but he kept on racing and looked very much on course for win number six in Dubai when he led late on the bike.
However rather than heading into T2 – and he explains why not below – he and the two men just behind him, Mathis Margirier and Marten Van Riel, would go on to do an extra lap.
As if that wasn’t confusing enough, the run would then end in farce as all but four of the field finished a lap early.
That meant the final result was taken from the time at the end of the seventh of what should have been eight run laps, with Wilde placed eighth at that point despite an extra 8km on the bike.
‘Easier said that done’
It was clearly a shocking day for the race organisers but reaction since has been largely balanced – a mixture of anger and confusion but also a hope that lessons will be learned by all sides and things will get better in the future.
And Wilde’s response, which came around 72 hours later, was similarly constructive and also shed some much-needed light on what actually happened late on the bike section.
He said: “Yes, I take full accountability for doing an extra lap. I understand it is ultimately the athlete’s responsibility to count the laps.
“I’ve led a lot of these races, coming first into T2 with mostly the same fastest bike split time, so I normally have an idea on the last lap when looking at the total riding time and roughly the distance I’ve covered. On Saturday, the shorter distance and time threw me off a bit coming into T2 [he said he had ridden 76km rather than 80km at the end of what should have been his last lap].
“I came out of my TT bars — instead of previous laps where I remained in TT — and when looking at T2, it just didn’t look like it was ready. This, along with the total time and distance disconnect, threw me off completely in those split seconds on deciding whether we had a lap to go. And then I got told by someone, who I thought was an official as they were more or less on the field of play, you still have a lap to go so I kept going.
“Yes, I should’ve known the lap I was on and kept count, but when you’re at 160 HR, head down most of the race at 34°C, on a complex bike course, chasing down your competition and trying to also put time into them, counting laps is easier said than done.
“I just want to race — and race hard.”
Proactive measures needed
He added: “My frustration is that there should be things in place to prevent this before the race and within the race, just like World Athletics, UCI pro riding, F1 events, and other top major events with multiple laps. Is it really that hard to have a last-lap bell or lap counter to take this out of the equation when there are so many short laps?
“Another thing I was pretty frustrated with is that we weren’t made aware of our mistake by anyone, at any point, during the extra lap. We had a live camera with us and a technical official and people on the course who could have informed us. Instead of losing 10 minutes and doing a whole lap, it could have been maybe 3–4 minutes by cutting the course and making our way to T2 — keeping the race competitive and true.”
So as he said, “a lot of emotions, but mostly frustration.”
Wilde added: “I’m not trying to throw anyone under the bus here, but I hope we can all learn from this, improve, and move on. It’s the first year World Triathlon and T100 are working this closely together and putting new rules and regulations in so we can have a smooth day.
“So I hope once again we can learn from this and do better next time, as that is all we want and expect from pro racing. We all want the sport to continue to improve and innovate.”
‘Last Dance in Qatar’
And it’s all about looking forward for himself too and closing out that men’s title in Qatar on December 12.
Wilde’s score of 140 points gives him an 18-point buffer on newly-crowned 70.3 world champion Jelle Geens and 27 points on Mika Noodt, who look his only realistic challengers despite the inflated points on offer in the finale (55-46-41 for the first three).
And Wilde couldn’t go there in much better form, saying of Dubai: “First off, in the grand scheme of things, I’m really happy with my race.
“Solid swim — 50 seconds back off the faster lads — and made a bit of an average call by missing the feet.
“Overall, a strong ride. Felt super comfy in the heat and was able to bridge up to the front group from 8th–10th to 3rd up the road.
“After an aggressive ride, I held that form, running well over 16km — running the fastest split over the 16km mark.
“Another 3 weeks of building in the heat to prepare for the Last Dance in Qatar.”
Are we in a triathlon boom, or hurtling towards burnout? Laura Siddall on the growth of the sport
