Another great performance of the Uplace-BMC Pro Triathlon Team, Helle Frederiksen came second in the Challenge Paguera-Mallorca, which is also the European championship half distance. Lisa Hütthaler (AUS), won in 04:25:27, Helle Frederiksen who was leading most of the race came second on 1:54 (DEN; 04:27:21), while Maja Stage Nielsen (DEN; 04:44:17) took bronze and gave Denmark a second European medal.
Helle started off in Paguera with a fast swim. She came 1st out of the water with a lead of 1'29" on Anja Beranak. Around 45km of the bike leg, Anja Beranak and Lisa HüttHaler caught Helle. They stayed together until T2. With a fast transition, Helle managed to take the lead again. In the last of 4 local rounds, Lisa Hütthaler succeeded to take over the lead and took the gold medal home to Austria.
Came to win
Helle is satisfied with her performance: "I am happy. On this day, my best was second position. Of course I came here to win but Lisa Hüthaller was faster today. I had a solid swim, surrounded by ITU regular male athletes exiting in a group of 4. A quick T1 meant that I started the bike section in the lead. Around the 40 – 45km mark of the bike ride I was caught by Anja Beranek, who at that point took the lead of the race and Lisa Hüthaller following me closely in 3rd position. Into T2, I knew I needed to make my move, I did so and led up until 16km, at that point the lead was taken by Lisa Hüthaller from Austria. There were no position changes in the latter stages of the race and I arrived 2nd behind Lisa. Now I take a few days off to see my family and friends in Denmark. Then I will do my last little block of hard work to prepare the Challenge of Bahrain on the 6th of December."
Results
Complete results of the Challenge Paguera-Mallorca (European Championship half distance):
http://www.triatlon.org/live/paguera-mallorca/timing.html