Plenty of races past weekend! With Tour of Kärnten (Austria); Challenge Lisboa (Portugal) and 70.3 Malaga (Spain) the weekend kicked off in Southern Europe!
Today we continued the good vibes and had another day of races planned!
Cyclingraces in Belgium and Austria!
In Austria Anthony (3rd in GC after stage1) felt ready for the Individual Time Trial, with only 1″ of advantage on number 4 in the GC he wanted to keep his 3rd place safe!
And so he did, with a 4th place in this 29K ITT he keeps safe his 3rd place and advances number 4 now by 1 minute! Tomorrow another climbing stage with a final that can go all directions…to be followed!

In Spain – Barcelona Sven and Raymond had to start early in the morning.

7am and off they were in the sea! Both athletes had a good swim, Sven (coming from a +40′ swim now for the first time touched the 35′ barrier. With a good bike he moved up already quite a lot on the tough Spanish course and put down the bike with a smile before running a splendid (!) half marathon in 1h22′!! Excellent job done

Raymond, one of our older athletes in AG 55. But each year getting better and better! Raymond did what he had to do in the swim and comes out of the water just below 35′, on the bike he moved up very strongly. On the bike Raymond already showed past winter during the groupsessions that the younger athletes are manageable for him! On this tough racecourse the biker awakens. Putting down his bike good with sight on a top 10position in his AG, which was extremely strong in Barcelona, he started running!
With a steady half marathon @4’48/km he finishes 9th in his AG!

A few hours later in Leuven, Belgium, the yearly 70.3 distance was held. Leuven, the most beautifull city of Belgium, has a long triathlon tradition with many good triathletes in its environment.
Our athletes feared the cold water temperatures of the lake, but all seemed manageable after all!
For most of our athletes racing in Leuven today, this was a race in function of an Ironman race coming! For others this was a main goal!
One of our athletes, Wim, lives just at the side of the lake and might consider this as his private swimming pool. So motivation was on top!

Tony, racing IM Zürich 2019, was our first man in the race. The ‘running’ swim start made him look for the right pace in the first 500m, but once warmed up he got into his pace. With a strong bike effort he managed to get himself into the top 20 after T2!

With a strong run off the bike, which is the strength of many of our athletes he runs himself towards 14th place! Next steps: 70.3 racing in The Netherlands and Ironman Switzerland!

David, Diabetic triathlete and to follow on www.neverbackdown.be is aiming to become the 2nd Belgian diabetic – Type1 to become an Ironman finisher! For David this 70.3 race was hyperimportant according to nutrition and keeping control over the body. He did perfectly and did a very consistent race. Next step…full distance!
In the masters race it was Steven who amazed, Steven got in contact with us after severe health problems and is now totally back on track. Finishing 26th overall and 5th master is very satisfying!

Our female athlete always are quite tough, and so is Isabelle! With a very good swim and a very strong bike she put down her bike 2nd in her AG, but also top 5 overall! At that moment victory in the masters category seemed unreachable having to chase former PRO Adam. But Adam dropped out and Isabelle kept going and took victory today! A good motivational after some backproblems.

Our Ironman athlete abroad are also getting ready to race! First race today for Vadim (Canada) in his first day off of the Turbo, feeling very good on the swim and bike he moves up towards 3rd AG (45) position to finish 6th and feeling almost ready towards Ironman Boulder!