Dear Athletes,
Today we look at the Valencia World Cup, raced last weekend - 3 September 2022. Reviewing races is an important part of racing and performing well. All footage can be found on TriathlonLIVE TV.
Valencia World Cup
Due to the fact the Valencia course was not highly technical and hills were absent, it really came down to the run as large bike packs formed in both the men’s and the women’s races.
It is important to note that given the large packs that formed on the bike, Athletes need to be very aware of how their visibility is reduced from obstacles ahead. There were bike crashes and places on the bike course where cone markings were extremely difficult to see and narrow areas where athletes were forced to the wrong side of the course. When this is the case, remember that being on the wrong side of the course always brings up the question of leaving the course, which is a rule infringement.
In the men’s race there were some small attacks, but nothing of serious note or impact on the race outcome. Having said that, the Men’s winner was Messias (BRA), was the standout athlete – both male and female - who raced the whole race and was the deserved winner. Messias was significantly down out of the water, outside the top 30 and worked hard on the bike to make up the deficit. The lead out of T2 was small, but, he ran extremely well, losing only 16 seconds to Mola (ESP) who had the fastest run time of the day. Messias won by 4 seconds, out splitting the field on the run and yet again proving if you work hard on the bike and you are fit, you can also run very well. The win by Messias was a gutsy hard won victory, who despite working hard off the front on the bike still out ran most of the field.
The women winner was well known runner Tertsch (GER) who won with a run which kept her ahead of, Alvarez Corral (MEX) and Perrault (FRA). Tertsch was 20th into T1 and Alvarez Corral recorded one of the slowest swims of the day, some 33 seconds slower than Tertsch who was herself 18 seconds behind the fastest swimmer.
The bike was similar to the men’s race - a procession with one large pack. As the field came together on the bike, Alvarez Corral rode 24 seconds faster than Tertsch to make up much of the swim deficit. Alvarez Corral then had the fastest run split of the day - 8 seconds faster than Tertsch. Once again proving a fast run can be achieved after a strong attacking bike.
Amazingly the two fastest runners in each race finished second because they did not attack the bike to give themselves a few seconds advantage leading into T2 which would have given them a probable race victory. Racing defensively does not win races. Messias raced the bike and run and Tertsch raced the run.
I hope the above helps. It is important to note those who won did so despite not being in the lead bunch out of the water. Anything can happen in a race, as long as you know the course well, remain focussed on the task at hand and believe in your ability. Below is some race data with various split times you may find useful in your analysis of the race.
Until next race, train well!
Emma
