French star Cassandre Beaugrand took the spoils at WTCS Cagliari, as the Loughborough-based pro took a memorable win to beat an incredible field in a showdown on the run.
Holding off fellow Olympic gold contender Beth Potter of Great Britain, Beaugrand was able to secure a major confidence boost in the last Olympic distance event ahead of the Paris Games.
Lisa Tertsch of Germany finished in second, just ahead of Potter, as a number of battles played out further back between the top women on the British and American teams.
Swim – Kingma leads the way
Over the first lap of the swim, Maya Kingma and Vittoria Lopes led out with a small lead, with reigning world champion Potter third through the first lap, +0:04 down on the leading duo.
Olympic champion Flora Duffy was a further four seconds back from Potter, with Emma Lombardi, Georgia Taylor-Brown, Kirsten Kasper and Taylor Knibb all within ten seconds of the front.
Kate Waugh was back +0:17, with WTCS Yokohama winner Leonie Periault of France down +0:28, losing a lot of time in the choppier conditions after making the lead group two weeks ago in Japan.
Kingma, holding on to her lead, was first into transition, with Lopes on her heels and a big front pack including Taylor Spivey, Duffy, Lombardi and Potter.
Knibb, Kasper, Taylor-Brown and French star Beaugrand also made the lead group, with Waugh and fellow British athlete Sophie Coldwell up there as well.
Periault, with a great effort over the second lap of the swim, didn’t lose any further time to the front, and was out with just under half a minute to the front pack.
Bike – Front pack keep it rolling
With so many big hitters in the group, namely Duffy, Knibb and GTB, the main players in the front pack got to work straight away to try and reduce their numbers.
By halfway through the bike, the hot pace at the front of the race had created a gap of +1:40 over the chase pack, with 27 athletes in the lead group and 22 athletes in the chase group.
Up front, British athletes Waugh, Taylor-Brown, Coldwell, Potter and Rainsley were together, with Americans Zaferes, Kasper, Knibb and Spivey also sitting comfortable in the lead pack.
Despite some significant surges by Knibb, Taylor-Brown and a handful of other athletes, the front group made it round the bike course intact, with a gap of over three minutes to the chasers and the podium looking certain to come from their ranks.
Run – Beaugrand takes the tape
Just as she did in Yokohama, Lombardi went to the front early on in the run, and was soon joined by GTB, Potter, Beaugrand, Coldwell and Jeanne Lehair of Luxembourg, who was fifth here last year.
This lead group of six athletes had a gap of +0:09 after the first lap, with Knibb, Waugh, Zaferes and German duo Tertsch and Nina Eim chasing hard to make up the deficit to the podium.
With a brilliant effort over the second lap of 2.5km, Tertsch bridged up to the front pack, to make it seven athletes battling it out up front, as their gap to the chasers increased to +0:15.
Just past the halfway mark, Potter started to wind up the pace, with only Tertsch, Lombardi, Lehair and Beaugrand strong enough to hold on. Coldwell and GTB, dropping off, still had plenty to race for with Olympic selection on the line.
Taking the bell, the lead group of five were still side-by-side, with GTB and Coldwell +0:08 back and just 15 seconds ahead of Waugh, who was closing hard on her fellow countrywomen.
Over the final lap, Potter tested her opponents, with Beaugrand looking vulnerable with a kilometre to go, before surging back to the front and holding off Tertsch in a sprint finish down the blue carpet.
Beaugrand took her first ever Olympic distance win in the WTCS Series, with Tertsch finishing in second and Potter holding off Lombardi for third, as Taylor-Brown finished in sixth, behind Lehair, but ahead of Coldwell in seventh.
Kate Waugh, finishing in 10th, was just 10 seconds behind Coldwell. Amongst the Americans, Zaferes managed to hold off Spivey and was less than five seconds behind Knibb, who finished in 11th as the first American.
WTCS Cagliari – Saturday May 25 2024
1500m / 40km / 10km
Elite Women
- 1. Cassandre Beaugrand (FRA) – 1:47:25 [19:03/54:04/33:09]
- 2. Lisa Tertsch (GER) – 1:47:28 [19:07/53:59/33:08]
- 3. Beth Potter (GBR) – 1:47:31 [19:00/54:05/33:17]
- 4. Emma Lombardi (FRA) – 1:47:32 [18:59/54:11/33:20]
- 5. Jeanne Lehair (LUX) – 1:47:51 [19:10/53:57/33:36]
- 6. Georgia Taylor-Brown (GBR) – 1:48:03 [19:10/53:55/33:47]
- 7. Sophie Coldwell (GBR) – 1:48:06 [19:08/54:02/33:48]
- 8. Flora Duffy (BER) – 1:48:08 [18:58/54:08/33:54]
- 9. Nina Eim (GER) – 1:48:13 [19:11/53:58/33:58]
- 10. Kate Waugh (GBR) – 1:48:19 [19:08/54:00/34:05]
