Belgians rule Luxembourg 70.3

Alexandra Tondeur and Kenneth Vandendriessche secured their victories with race-best and women’s best runs at Ironman 70.3 Luxembourg.

Women

Tondeur made up for a 3:17 deficit after the swim with a women’s 3rd-best bike split and a dominating run for a come-from-behind, 1:38 margin of victory over Susie Cheetham of Great Britain.

Tondeur was 5th out of the water and 3:17 behind swim leader Katja Konschak of Germany and 55 seconds behind Cheetham. Tondeur surrendered another 2:22 to Cheetham’s women's best 2:27:18 bike split. With Cheetham losing time in transitions, Tondeur began the run with a 2:33 deficit to the Englishwoman.

After grinding back her deficit kilometer by kilometer, Tondeur came within 17 seconds of Cheetham at kilometer 16 while Katja Konschak was 2:48 behind in 3rd place. With 2.5 kilometers to go, Tondeur made the pass and had a 50 seconds lead on Cheetham. After a women's-best 1:22:37 run, Tondeur finished in 4:22:44 with a 1:38 margin of victory over Cheetham (1:27:22 run) and 2:46 over Konschak (1:23:10 run).

Men

Kenneth Vandendriessche recovered from a 4:06 deficit after the swim with a race-best 2:04:03 bike split that reduced his deficit to 3:38 from swim-bike leader Lukasz Wojt of Germany. After 8 kilometers of the run leg, Vandendriessche passed Wojt and finished off his day with a race-best 1:14:36 run that brought him to the finish in 3:50:29 with a 44 seconds margin of victory over Bas Diederen of the Netherlands and 2:09 over 3rd-place Tim Brydenbach of Belgium.

Ironman 70.3 Luxembourg
Region Moselle, Luxembourg
June 18, 2017
S 1.2 mi. / B 56 mi. / R 13.1 mi.

Results

Women

1. Alexandra Tondeur (BEL) 4:22:44
2. Susie Cheetham (GBR) 4:24:22
3. Katja Konschak (GER) 4:25:30
4. Corinne Abraham (GBR) 4:31:24
5. Rahel Bellinga (NED) 4:41:25

Men

1. Kenneth Vandendriessche (BEL) 3:50:29
2. Bas Diederen (NED) 3:51:13
3. Tim Brydenbach (BEL) 3:52:38
4. Evert Scheltinga (NED) 3:52:46
5. Robin Moussel (FRA) 3:53:34
9. Marino Vanhoenacker (BEL) 3:54:41