The World Triathlon Cup Lanzarote proved to be a memorable first race of the season for great friends Sophie Evans and Georgia Taylor-Brown.
The Brits battled back from uncharacteristically sub-par swims to drive the race on the bike as a big front group was whittled down to eight athletes by the start of the run.
Taylor-Brown then broke clear with Germans Nina Eim and Laura Lindemann as well as Spain’s Marta Pintanel Raymundo before just missing out on the win after a great battle with Eim in the closing stages.
It was Evans’ first race since giving birth to her first child Phoebe 10 months ago (as well as the first time she’d competed under her married name rather than maiden name of Coldwell) and she was best of the rest as she crossed the line in a fine fifth place.
‘Exceeded my expectation’
Afterwards she posted on Instagram: “And we’re finally back on the blue carpet baby!
“Career worst swim (special mention to whoever unzipped my wetsuit mid-swim, really helpful 🙃) but somehow fought my way back to 5th!
“Exceeded my expectations and it felt pretty special doing it with Phoebe here on Mother’s Day weekend 💐”
She also spoke to World Triathlon after the race about what those expectations had been, adding: “It felt really special. There have been a lot of changes over the last year – becoming a mum and also racing now with my married name, so it almost felt like the start of a new chapter. Having Phoebe here in Lanzarote made it even more meaningful. It’s taken a lot to get back to the start line, so today was about enjoying the process again and being grateful to race.
“Hand on heart, I didn’t have a result in mind! It’s my first race back in nearly two years and my first one since having Phoebe, so the goal was really just to get back on the start line, race hard and see where I’m at. Of course I’m competitive and once you’re in the race you always want more, but a top-five today feels like a really positive step in the right direction.”
‘We need more courses like this’
For Taylor-Brown too there was also lots of encouragement as she looks to continue the good work from the end of last year when she made her mark at middle-distance racing.
Speaking on the live broadcast on TriathlonLive.tv she said of the windy conditions and challenging course: “It was really tough. I think maybe I had one of the worst swims of my life. It was so messy and I did breaststroke like three times. I just wanted it to end!
“But I had to try and stay focused and I knew I had to give the bike what I could today and try and break up a little bit. I saw in the first lap it was one long line so I tried on the second lap to up the pace a little bit and we splintered the group quite a bit.
“The bike for me was really hard. It was fun though – I love courses like this and I think we need more of them.
“The wind was so hard and I was really trying to push it into the gutter so no one could sit on – and we got a smaller group which I knew I needed for the run because I’m not quite there yet.
“I’ve had a good six week block but I’m super happy to come second today and hopefully I’ve got more to work on and more to come.”
