Belgium’s Marten Van Riel became the first man to win two T100 races this season with a sensational all-round performance in Ibiza as he saw off reigning IRONMAN World Champion Sam Laidlow.
Van Riel, who won T100 San Francisco in a sensational three-way sprint finish before focussing on the Olympics, has now won all six of his middle-distance races.
But he had to work hard before finally breaking Laidlow, winner of T100 London last time, late on the run.
The duo were well clear of Mika Noodt in third, with double Olympic champion Alistair Brownlee left to rue a drafting penalty on the bike – the first ever in T100 racing – as he took fourth.
Swim – Bogen and Van Riel show the way
The two-lap non-wetsuit swim began just as the sun was coming up and there was an aggressive start by Rico Bogen.
But at the Aussie exit at the end of lap one at 1km it was Van Riel who had moved to the front and really strung things out.
And on the second lap it became one long line, with 13 athletes gapping the rest meaning it was going to be hectic in T1.
Van Riel was first out of the water, followed by Bogen, Josh Amberger, Aaron Royle, Laidlow, Brownlee, Max Neumann, Fred Funk, Noodt, Maximilian Sperl, Kacper Stepniak, Daniel Baekkegard and Antonio Benito Lopez all in close attendance.
Bike – Drafting penalty for Brownlee
Van Riel had been first into T1 but was out in 11th after he decided to put his socks on at that point.
However it didn’t take long for him and Laidlow to power to the front of the group as things started to shake out.
But there was early drama as that pair went straight on at a roundabout rather than right as they appeared to follow a motorbike.
By the time they had done a U-turn it meant they had gone from front to back but they would work their way back to the head of affairs in contrasting styles.
Laidlow simply put the hammer down and was back in front just 8km into the 80km route, which was split into three laps.
Van Riel took far longer but when things finally settled down, we had a front group of six.
In addition to Laidlow and Van Riel, we also had Bogen, Brownlee, Funk and Noodt in a line and then a gap back to Neumann in no man’s land in seventh.
Laidlow had done his best to put distance between himself and the rest but it wasn’t happening and at the halfway point he waved to the chasers to come and do some of the work.
It wasn’t long after that point that we had the first-ever T100 drafting penalty and it went to none other than Brownlee.
There’s much more detail on that here but he had to serve his 60 seconds penalty soon after 60km and that left the front five out on their own.
Heading into T2 they were all together and the winner was surely going to come from that quintet – Brownlee was at +1:13 and there were another two minutes and upwards back to the rest.
Run – Van Riel kicks clear
It was Bogen, first into T2, who had a 10 seconds buffer when he came out of it.
But that didn’t last long on the seven-lap twisty run course.
Just 2.5km into the 18km both Laidlow and Van Riel had swooped past Bogen and put daylight between themselves and the rest.
They were shoulder to shoulder from then on, while the gaps opened up behind. At the end of the first lap they had 17 seconds on Bogen in third, Noodt was at +19s and Funk at +30s. Brownlee was now a minute-and-a-half back.
The front two moved continued to move further and further clear and it was on the sixth and penultimate lap when Van Riel made what proved the decisive move as he kicked on a downhill section.
Laidlow was unable to respond and while Van Riel was having to work hard, he forged clear.
He would cross the line 26 seconds to the good to put himself in pole position for the overall T100 title, with Laidlow showing he’s very much on course for his IMWC defence in Kona next month with a superb display in second.
Noodt rounded out the podium in third, nearly a minute and a half back. It was then 45 seconds back to Brownlee in fourth, with that penalty proving costly even though it was his highest T100 placing so far.
In fifth for the second race in succession was Funk as Bogen, who had led at the start of the run, faded in the heat.
T100 Ibiza Results – Pro Men
Saturday September 28 2024 – 2km/80km/18km
- 1. Marten Van Riel (BEL) – 3:11:36 [24:46/1:47:29/57:45]
- 2. Sam Laidlow (FRA) – 3:12:02 [24:52/1:47:32/58:09]
- 3. Mika Noodt (GER) – 3:13:30 [24:58/1:47:29/59:31]
- 4. Alistair Brownlee (GBR) – 3:14:15 [24:54/1:48:35/59:12]
- 5. Fred Funk (GER) – 3:15:03 [24:57/1:47:24/1:01:07]
