Camilla Pedersen continued her dominance, while Stuart Marais celebrated his first IRONMAN 70.3 win in Pescara, Italy.
Marais claims victory on the run
Stuart Marais from South Africa had a solid swim, had one of the fastest bike splits on the challenging course and outran the pro field over the final kilometers at the beach of Pescara.
Defending champion Horst Reichel was forced to withdraw from the race, leaving another German, Johannes Moldan, too push the pace early. The swim was fast, with 25 athletes coming out of the water within two minutes. Jonathan Ciavattella (ITA) led the field into the transition after 15:11, only seconds ahead of Manuel Küng.
Italian Domenico Passuello took the lead early on the bike, but it was Moldan who took control for the second half of the ride. Moldan dismounted his bike five seconds in front of Passuello, while Marais was 2:25 behind.
The first nine km of the run belonged to Moldan before Marais made his decisive move and surged towards the front. Marais passed Passuello and Moldan at 10 km and went on to claim his first IRONMAN 70.3 victory in 3:48:49, with Victor del Corral Morales finishing second in 3:49:53, thanks to a race-best run of 1:11:39. Molins finished of the podium, stopping the clock at 3:51:26.
Pedersen to hot to handle
In the women’s race the crowd was allowed to watch a wire-to-wire win by the unstoppable Camilla Pedersen. Two weeks after her impressive comeback to the IRONMAN race series at IRONMAN 70.3 Barcelona, the Danish star demonstrated a brilliant performance from start to the finish. Pedersen had the fastest best swim (17:04), bike (2:29:33) and a solid run (1:26:35) on her way to victory.
Pedersen established a gap of 11:03 lead at the conclusion of the bike on Emma Bilham (SUI) and finished in 4:19:04. Behind Pedersen reigning IRONMAN European champion, Martina Dogana (ITA), took second on her home turf, thanks to a race-best run of the day (1:24:17) and final time of 4:29:33. Bilham completed the podium with a finishing time of 4:31:54.
Top 5 Men
1 Stuart Marais (RSA) 03:48:49
2Victor Morales (ESP) 3:49:53
3 Albert Molins (ESP) P3:51:26
4 Johannes Moldan (GER) 3:52:00
5 Victor Debil-Caux (FRA) 3:54:00
Top 5 Women
1 Camilla Pedersen (DEN) 4:19:04
2 Martina Dogana (ITA) 4:29:33
3 Emma Bilham (SUI) 4:31:54
4 Michaela Renner-Schneck (DEU) 4:33:29
5 Jennifer Duffy, Jennifer (IRL) 4:43:01