Jan Frodeno clinches first win of the season at IRONMAN 70.3 Andorra

Multiple IRONMAN and IRONMAN 70.3 World Champion Jan Frodeno claimed his first victory of the season at IRONMAN 70.3 Andorra after holding off some stiff competition from fellow countryman Jonas Schomburg.

The 41 year old, who shared before the race that he was coming in off a big week of training, will take a massive confidence boost after landing his first podium this season, following fourth at the PTO Tour European Open and IRONMAN Hamburg.

The Olympic Champion is next set to race at the PTO Tour US Open in Milwaukee next month, before he gears up for one final shot at the IRONMAN World Championship title in Nice on September 10.

Swim – Schomburg builds early lead

Short course specialist Schomburg, who is generally found on the WTCS circuit, laid down the gauntlet early on in Andorra with a brilliant swim, as he opened up a 45 second gap over the rest of the field by the time he exited the water and headed for T1.

Frodeno was out alongside Frenchman Antony Costes and Kiwi Kyle Smith, who ended up pulling out of the race, with the rest of the field more than a minute behind the chase pack of three as they headed out on to the bike course. Jordi Montraveta Maya, the Spaniard who eventually finished third, had a deficit of +4:24 out the swim.

Bike – Frodeno holds strong

With just under 2,000m of elevation gain on the bike course in Andorra, the field quickly split up, with front runner Schomburg opening up a gap of over two minutes by the 21km mark over Frodeno, before the veteran racer closed back down to within a minute.

Frodeno seemed to be tested at times by his younger compatriots aggressive riding, with Schomburg on a number of occasions growing the gap out to more than a couple of minutes, before Frodeno closed it back down again, with both riders playing to different strengths on the challenging course.

In the end, Frodeno and Schomburg rode almost identical bike splits to come into T2 with just 45 seconds separating each other, as Moya of Spain recorded the fastest bike split of the day with a 2:41:52 to ride his way up to third place.

Run – Frodeno too strong

Having spent all day at the front, Schomburg worked the first part of the run hard to put Frodeno under pressure, but after the 5km mark was slowly being reeled in, as Frodeno began to demonstrate his incredible run prowess.

DATEV Challenge Roth 2022 - Jan Frodeno transition — [Photo Credit: Challenge Media]

By 13km, Frodeno, who is based in Andorra, had taken the lead and never looked back, as Schomburg held strong for second but could do nothing more than watch as the two time IRONMAN 70.3 World Champion took the tape for the first time since 2021.

Schomburg secured his slot for the IRONMAN 70.3 World Championships, as did Moya, who despite fading a little on the run, managed to put himself in podium contention with a fantastic bike split and was rewarded for it.

IRONMAN 70.3 Andorra Men’s Results – Saturday July 2 2023