Lionel Sanders may have beaten Kristian Blummenfelt at IRONMAN 70.3 Oceanside last Saturday, but the Canadian superstar knows the bare results tell only part of the story.
While the 37-year-old was surging to a brilliant fourth victory at this iconic race having been more than three minutes down after the swim, it was a very different day for former Olympic and IRONMAN World Champion Blummenfelt.
‘Big Blu’ had a mixed afternoon, leading early on the bike before a flat front tyre wrecked his victory hopes. He would lose around 15 minutes before getting back racing, and not even a course-record run split of 1:07:19 was enough to put him back into contention.
The man from Bergen would eventually come home in 15th position, with Sanders already drinking in the adulation of a crowd which roared him home to victory.
Lionel though knows things would have been different had that puncture not stopped Blummenfelt’s progress, the question is, how different?
Lionel Sanders – I want to beat the best
Sanders, speaking in a post-race video on his YouTube channel, said: “I’ll do an analysis of how much time Kristian lost in the flat tyre, and what it would have taken to beat Kristian if he didn’t get a flat tyre, because I want to be the best, and he’s one of the best guys in the world, and certainly a contender for the world title.
“That’s part of training. Racing the best guys. If you don’t beat them, analysing what it would have taken to beat them. That will inform the training moving forward. That’s the process. I knew that a decade ago. I spent a decade over-complicating it. But now I know it.”
Sanders and Blummenfelt will now go head to head again at IRONMAN Texas on April 26, and Sanders is confident he can again do well.
He said: “I have some training to go. I definitely need to do a couple more long rides, for sure. This has provided a great stimulus. I need to absorb the stimulus.
“This (Oceanside) was literally the end of the season last year. I fractured my rib the next week and the season went downhill from then on. If you allow your body to absorb it this is a tremendous stimulus.
Lionel is on to (IRONMAN) Texas
“I’m going to be patient. Conservative. I’m not going to push it. I’ll give myself six days to recover and then put in a seven or eight-day block.
“Most of the training has already been done and then we’re in Texas basically competing against the same field all over again. I have something to prove, mainly to myself, that I can race to win.”
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