The three editions of supertri Toulouse have provided a rollercoaster of emotions for Kiwi superstar Hayden Wilde.
His victory in 2022 featured an iconic celebration but then last year a thrilling battle with Léo Bergere was scuppered from his perspective by a controversial penalty ruling.
And with arch rival Alex Yee unable to race, all looked to be going to plan on Sunday for Wilde when he moved into the lead on the first of the two final run laps.
But his chances were ruined – or certainly weren’t helped – with a shoe issue which saw him drop back to third as Vasco Vilaca and Tim Hellwig sprinted for the win.
‘That’s racing’
Explaining what happened afterwards, a philosophical Wilde said: “I actually felt I had it in the bag, I felt really good but then my shoe fell off halfway so I was sprinting down the back straight against the boys with one shoe.
“A couple of the bands on my shoe snapped and on the second lap when going around corners the whole shoe was going to fling off.
“So I had to completely change my stride to keep my foot in the shoe.
“It was super difficult and I just couldn’t run to my potential at the end there.
“But that’s racing and a technical mistake from that point of view.”
Still in pole position
While the shoe did eventually come off, the good news for Wilde is that he’s still incredibly well placed in the overall standings, with 44 points out of a maximum 45 going into the series finale in Neom.
And he still managed to hold on to third place and finished ahead of his closest rival Bergere in fourth.
The Olympic silver medallist added: “It was really important that I showed up here to score some points for my team and to keep my rivals [for the overall title] at bay, so I’m pretty happy with today.
“I’ve got enough points and [hopefully] enough to block a few other athletes for the overall series.”
