Germany’s Caroline Pohle and Belgium’s Jonathan Wayaffe ran out the winners of Challenge Barcelona on Sunday (November 3) after the event was switched to a duathlon.
The swim was cancelled due to a heavy swell that was forecast to increase throughout the morning, and with recent events in Spain front of mind, the organisers replaced it with a 5km run and moved the start back 15 minutes to 8.15am local time.
And before that start, a one-minute silence was held out of respect to all those who tragically lost their lives in the recent catastrophic flooding in southern Spain.
When the action got under way British Olympians Jess Learmonth and Sam Dickinson were both to the fore and each led out their respective runs but weren’t quite able to take the wins.
Here’s how the action played out…
Pro Women – Learmonth has to settle for second
It was Italy’s Elisabetta Curridori who was first into T1 after a 19:08 first 5km, with Pohle and Learmonth her closest challengers after identical 19:32 splits.
But on the bike it was Learmonth, the Tokyo gold medal winner in the Mixed Team Relay and having just her second race since the birth of her first child, who forged clear.
After a burst of heavy rain, she gradually extended her lead on the slippery roads and leaving T2 she had an advantage of one minute and 40 seconds over Pohle and Megan McDonald (GBR), who were locked together.
But Pohle has been in terrific form of late, with IRONMAN 70.3 wins in Tallinn and Zell am See pushing her up to number 15 in the latest PTO world rankings. And she underlined that here with by far the fastest women’s run split of the day – 50:56.
That was over three minutes quicker than Learmonth and saw her overhaul the Brit en route to another win.
Learmonth had just enough in hand to hold off Curridori for her second runner-up spot in as many races since returning to action – all the more impressive as she wasn’t able to showcase her strong swim.
The women’s podium in Barcelona [Photo credit: Challenge Family]
Pro Men – Wayaffe runs away with it
On the first run – over 5km – Wayaffe moved into an early lead in a front pack of 12 thanks to a 16:27 split.
But starting the bike it was local favourite Jordi Garcia who led out of T1 before Dickinson, who produced a brilliant leg to help Team GB to the bronze at the Mixed Team Relay in Paris, took over in front. But despite his best efforts he wasn’t able to break clear early on.
That changed after the downpour made conditions trickier and Dickinson and Guillem Montiel (SPA) were able to carve out a small gap – only for the latter to suffer a puncture in the final kilometres. All of which meant that Dickinson was out of T2 first but the chase group were only six seconds behind.
And on the 15km finale – though timings strongly suggest it was significantly shorter – it was all about Wayaffe who clocked an impressive 43:28 – the only man to go under 44 minutes – and that proved the difference.
Michele Bortolamedi (ITA) was 19 seconds behind in second and 46 seconds in front of Jack Hutchens (GBR) who rounded out the podium, with Dickinson dropping to eighth.
“On my way here I came through Valencia and then I wasn’t thinking about the race, it was very humbling.” said Wayaffe afterwards. “The minute of silence was really appropriate.”
“To take the win was a surprise for me but I’m super happy with the way things turned out. Immediately from the start I felt good on the run and I dared to set the pace. When I had 2.5km on the run to go I attacked and really pushed hard and Bartolomedi wasn’t able to follow.”
Challenge Barcelona 2024 results
Sunday November 3, 2024 – 5km run / 56km bike / 15km run (timings would suggest last run was shorter)
Pro Women
1. Caroline Pohle – 2:37:36 (19:32 / 1:23:22 / 50:56)
2. Jess Learmonth – 2:39:03 (19:32 / 1:21:36 / 54:01)
3. Elisabetta Curridori – 2:39:16 (19:08 / 1:24:50 / 51:10)
Pro Men
1. Jonathan Wayaffe – 2:18:55 (16:27 / 1:15:36 / 43:28)
2. Michele Bortolamedi – 2:19:14 (16:29 / 1:15:34 / 44:01)
3. Jack Hutchens – 2:20:00 (16:32 / 1:15:32 / 44:33)
Jonathan Wayaffe’s run speed proved decisive [Photo credit: Challenge Family]
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