Three weeks on from his astonishing T100 London victory on his comeback from serious injury, Hayden Wilde made it three wins from three T100 races with an impressive success on the French Riviera.
The New Zealander was to the fore throughout – only eight seconds back after a swift swim and T1, just ahead at the end of the bike before a statement start to the run all but settled it.
Jelle Geens (BEL), the man who beat him to the 70.3 world title last year, kept him up to his work but in truth Wilde was able to ease down ever so slightly ahead of his clash with Olympic champion Alex Yee and Matt Hauser at WTCS French Riviera on Sunday!
Sam Dickinson (GBR) rounded out the podium in third on what was his T100 debut – here’s how the race played out.
Swim – Pearson leads the way
It was a beach start and after a spectacular sunrise conditions were pretty much ideal with the sea relatively calm.
Morgan Pearson (USA) led early from Dickinson, with sighting slightly tricky when going towards the low sun.
Leo Bergere lost a bit of time when taking a less direct route than the rest on the first of two 1km laps but not much separated the first 18, with American duo Colin Szuch and Sam Long the two distanced in 19th and 20th at around two minutes back.
On the second lap the status quo remained – Pearson, Dickinson and Kyle Smith (NZL) the front three but Wilde, who was around minute back at this point in London, was noticeably close and after a rapid transition he would start the bike just eight seconds back.
Long and Szuch meanwhile had over four-and-a-half minutes to try and make up on the bike and run.
Bike – Bogen and Wilde take charge
Dickinson took the lead early on the bike but it soon settled down into a front group of five – with Rico Bogen (GER), Wilde, Mathis Margirier (FRA) and Geens the others involved.
And that was how it stayed to the halfway point of what was a stunning 80km loop, with plenty of climbing.
But in the second half Bogen and Wilde moved away from the other three on the main climb, putting 45 seconds into them – with four minutes and more back to the rest.
That was the position at T2 and Wilde again showed his short-course prowess at transition to start the run on the front foot.
Run – Wilde in cruise control
Wilde quickly opened up a gap on what was now Geens in second and it held steady to halfway, with 57 seconds between them at the 9km mark.
Dickinson and Bogen were alongside each other at this point in third and fourth, a minute-and-a-half adrift.
And Wilde looked on cruise control from then on even though the gap to Geens closed in the last 3km.
It was down to 22 seconds on the line and Wilde then wasted little time in concentrating on starting his recovery ahead of that WTCS showdown with Yee, Hauser and the rest just over 24 hours later.
Dickinson finished strongly to round out a superb first T100 appearance in third, with Margirier and Bogen fourth and fifth respectively.
Pearson continued his T100 progress too in sixth thanks to the fastest run of the day. That followed an eighth in San Francisco and then seventh in Vancouver.
Post-race reaction
“Today was always going to be a super calculated day but I took some risks out there,” said Wilde afterwards.
“I think I was the only one on the start line who didn’t wear a swim skin and it paid off super well – coming about 10th out of the water. I didn’t have to take the swim skin off and straight out of transition into fourth, which is perfect.
“From there, the boys really took control and I didn’t really want to see the front of the race until I got to the climb and that is where I was going to make my move, put my head down, and just pushed hard for 15 minutes. I got to the top of the climb and saw that Rico was there. We just looked at each other and I was like ‘alright, let’s do it’.”
Wilde did his media interviews on the turbo as he started his prep for Sunday and he added: “Yeah it’s a hard thing to do, but I’m fortunate that my stomach is made of steel and I’ve been stuffing my face with tortillas, and rice, and chicken. Just to get those carbs in with a little bit of juice.
“I was also on the bike for about 20 minutes to get the legs spinning. Essentially, it’s just to trick the body into thinking that it’s just another day. I’ll try and get out for a swim or an easy run and make sure I have a good sleep tonight to get ready for tomorrow.”
T100 French Riviera results – Pro men
Saturday August 30, 2025 – 2km/80km/18km
| Position | Athlete | Gap to leader | Swim time | Bike time | Run time | Total time |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | H Wilde | – | 25:05 | 01:47:18 | 00:58:12 | 03:12:23 |
| 2 | J Geens | +00:22 | 24:55 | 01:48:10 | 00:57:57 | 03:12:45 |
| 3 | S Dickinson | +01:45 | 24:49 | 01:48:15 | 00:59:19 | 03:14:07 |
| 4 | M Margirier | +02:32 | 25:02 | 01:47:31 | 01:00:09 | 03:14:55 |
| 5 | R Bogen | +02:52 | 24:58 | 01:47:17* | 01:00:59 | 03:15:15 |
| 6 | M Pearson | +04:54 | 24:47* | 01:53:14 | 00:57:10* | 03:17:16 |
| 7 | G Barnaby | +06:04 | 25:13 | 01:51:09 | 01:00:00 | 03:18:27 |
| 8 | W Hirsch | +06:08 | 24:54 | 01:53:10 | 00:58:27 | 03:18:30 |
| 9 | A Benito Lopez | +06:39 | 24:57 | 01:53:10 | 00:59:04 | 03:19:02 |
| 10 | M Koolhaas | +07:31 | 25:00 | 01:53:30 | 00:59:24 | 03:19:54 |
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