Hayden Wilde called it a “sufferfest” after battling his way to a gutsy third place at San Francisco T100 behind repeat winner Rico Bogen.

The Kiwi superstar has carried all before him in this format, winning seven of his eight races before this one – and the exception was that lap-counting fiasco in Dubai last year.

But a virus – which ruled him out of WTCS Alghero the week before – was always going to make life tough in California and he had more than five minutes to try and make up on Bogen by the start of the run.

That didn’t happen but he still claimed a podium place to underline his position at the top of the standings after two races, having won the opener in Singapore.

Racing smart – and respecting the race

And afterwards he said: “It was a tough day out there, just battling all day. To be fair, full respect to Rico, I think even on a good day, it would have been damn hard to beat him today.

“He was pushing it up there in the front and there was not much I could do out there. The only thing I could really do was just be smart and just get as super aero as possible because I just wasn’t pushing the power I wanted to. I turned around and had a good run.”

Of his illness, he added: “It’s frustrating because I was in great form getting into the last two weekend races. It is what it is and it’s just how you bounce back and get into it.

“I wanted to come respect the race, and I know that if I didn’t turn up, it was going to be hard to defend the title. So honestly, I’m actually pretty happy with the podium. I wasn’t expecting too much and it puts me in a good position here to get to the Qatar final, and I can’t complain about that.”

Paying the penalty

At the front of the race it did look for a while that Lasse Nygaard Priester might be able to reel in fellow German Bogen on the run – but a penalty for equipment outside the box in T1 just made it a step too far.

He had got to within 1:23 after three of the four run loops but chose that point to serve his penalty and the gap was always going to be too big after that if Bogen held strong.

“In general, I’m very happy with the race, especially the bike,” said Priester. “I did everything I wanted. I really tried not to hide and go for it.

“At some point, I was also looking behind and realising the gap is getting bigger, so, yeah, I started the run and I felt quite controlled for second place. I hoped to get in touch with Rico at some point, but I had the penalty.”

‘This is my course’

Bogen admitted that he only found out about Priester’s penalty late on, explaining: “Yeah, I heard it on the third lap that he had a penalty, and then I thought, I have a one minute thirty gap, and then the 30 seconds penalty, so I thought the gap was big enough.

“He’s a great runner, so I had to push really deep on the bike. I thought maybe I’m destroying myself, and last year I pushed even harder, but I went ahead.

“I felt I had good run legs, so I felt quite good that I could hold a gap to Lasse.”

Bogen has an incredible record in San Francisco, being part of that memorable three-way sprint finish in 2024 before winning 12 months later and he added: “I thought ‘this is my course’, so I had to do it right. It’s so great to be back on the podium.”