Marten van Riel says friends and colleagues all thought he was crazy when he decided to race an IRONMAN and a T100 just one week apart earlier this month.
After podium finishes at IRONMAN South Africa and then T100 Singapore, you could be forgiven for thinking the Belgian’s decision was completely vindicated.
But the reigning T100 World Champion has revealed just how many obstacles he had to overcome to get through the ordeal, and how much it took out of him.
Van Riel on his massive double
In a new YouTube video, the Belgian star said: “I wouldn’t recommend doing an IRONMAN and then a T100 a week later! But I think I have set myself up for a really good 2025 season.
“Everybody thought I was crazy doing the Ironman in South Africa and the T100 in Singapore in the same week.”
Van Riel finished second behind Magnus Ditlev in South Africa on March 30, ticking off his main objective of qualifying for the IRONMAN World Championship in the process.
Then he finished a miraculous third in the T100 in Singapore on April 6 behind Hayden Wilde and Leo Bergere – a result he admits even he wasn’t expecting.
Marten said: “It was a pretty hectic week. We had a good plan, me and my coach. Then the first day in South Africa we went riding and I lost all my bottles on the course because it was so bumpy. It wasn’t the last time we had to adapt.
“We went out to a restaurant and on the Wednesday night before the race I got really bad food poisoning. I thought I would sleep it off but I woke up at 2am and had to violently vomit.
Difficult decisions, on the toilet
“I had to make some difficult decisions while sitting on the toilet and the next day I was completely destroyed. By the next evening I started to feel better, prepared for my race, and my whole mood eventually turned around.
“I felt 100 per cent going into the race but I guess with this you are not 100 per cent. I arrived in second place behind Magnus and I was really disappointed. But the next day I was just relieved because of the food poisoning.”
Van Riel admits that it all just made Singapore all the more challenging – and the pitfalls didn’t stop there.
‘Zombie’ arrival to random tests
He said: “I was a zombie when I got off the plane. I don’t know if I still believed I would do a good race in Singapore. Everything got hectic.
“Then I got a phone call from doping control while I was peeing at 10.30 at night. It took me until 1am to provide them a sample. That was not good either.
“But I slept well Friday night and I felt good on Saturday. I didn’t really believe I could podium I was hoping for maybe fifth, sixth place.
‘Delusional guy’ wins
“But when I’m on the start line I always believe I can win a race. I turn on the delusional guy who thinks if you believe it you can do it.”
Van Riel now turns his attention to a bout of altitude training in the Sierra Nevada in a fortnight’s time as gears up for the T100 San Francisco on May 31 and then Vancouver at the start of June.
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