Lionel Sanders of Canada and Holly Lawrence of Great Britain rode dominating bike splits to decisive victories at Ironman 70.3 Mont-Tremblant.
Sanders fell just 26 seconds short of his own 2015 race record as he combined a 13th best swim, a by-far fastest bike leg and a race-best run to finish in 3:46:04 with a 6:14 margin of victory over Taylor Reid and 8:22 over 3rd-place finisher Cody Beals.
Sanders thus led a 1-2-3-4-5-6 Canadian sweep of the top men’s finishers which included a 4th for Jackson Laundry in 3:57:25, 5th for Antoine Jolicoeur Desroches in 3:49:39, and 6th for Jordan Monnink in 4:00:13.
Lawrence posted a women’s-best swim, a dominating women's-fastest bike split and a women’s 3rd-quickest run to finish in 4:14:24 with a 3:57 margin of victory over two-time Olympian Sarah True of the U.S. and 4:53 over 3rd-place finisher Magali Tisseyre of Canada.
Although she fell 5:24 short of her race record 4:08:53 winning performance at this race last year, Lawrence did manage to keep alive her 70.3 win streak after suffering her first loss in a year earlier this month at the Escape From Alcatraz.
Men
Canadian Antoine Jolicoeur Desroches led the swim in Lake Tremblant with a 23:41 split that gave him a 7 seconds lead on Luke Pozzetta of the U.S., 12 seconds on Taylor Reid, 14 seconds on Sean Jefferson, 17 seconds on Jackson Laundry and 54 seconds on Cody Beal. In line with his improved swim times, Sanders emerged from the water in 13th place, just 2:40 from the lead and far from the last pro swimmer.
It took Sanders just 33 kilometers on the bike to carve out a 37 seconds lead on Desroches, 44 seconds on Laundry, 48 seconds on Reid, and 2:27 on Cody Beals. By the end of his race-best 2:01:53 bike split – 8:17 better than the next-best effort of Cody Beals and 8:22 better than Taylor Reid – Sanders had a 5:48 lead on Laundry, 6:01 on Reid, 6:57 on Beals, and 7:31 on Desroches.
Halfway into the run, Sanders was holding a conservative pace, surrendering a small portion of his lead – 5:03 on Reid, 7 minutes on Beals and about 10 minutes on Laundry. From that point on, Sanders brooked no more losses and finished with a race-best 1:14:01 run that brought him to the finish in 3:46:04 with a 6:14 margin of victory on Reid (1:14:27 run) and 8:22 on Beals (1:15:37 run).
Women
Holly Lawrence led the women’s wave with a 24:35 swim split that gave her a 1 second lead on True, 5 seconds on Jennifer Spieldenner, and 1:58 on Magali Tisseyre.
After 33 kilometers of the cycling leg, Lawrence was fully in charge with a 4:57 lead on Spieldenner, 5:02 on True and 5:58 on Tisseyre. After 66km, Lawrence led Tisseyre by 7:29, True by 7:32, and Spieldenner by 7:35, with a crowd of five including Amber Ferreira, Leslie Miller, Annie Claude-Gaudet, Kaitlin Curbeau and Isabelle Rouleau from 12:35 to 18:09 arrears.
After a 2:19:30 bike split - 5:50 better than the next-best effort by Tisseyre - Lawrence arrived in T2 with an 8:16 gap on Tisseyre, 8:23 on Spieldenner and 8:50 on True.
Halfway through the run, Lawrence had room to relax and her lead on True was chopped to 6:43 and on Tisseyre was reduced to 6:51. While True reduced her deficit to Lawrence by 4:53 with a women’s-best 1:21:25 run, the current Ironman 70.3 World Champion finished in 4:14:24 with a 3:57 margin of victory on True and 4:53 over Tisseyre (1:23:03 run).
Ironman 70.3 Mt. Tremblant
Mt. Tremblant, Quebec, Canada
June 25, 2017
S 1.2 mi. / B 56 mi. / R 13.1 mi.
Results
Men
1. Lionel Sanders (CAN) 3:46:04
2. Taylor Reid (CAN) 3:52:18
3. Cody Beals (CAN) 3:54:26
4. Laundry Jackson (CAN) 3:57:25
5. Antoine Jolicoeur Desroches (CAN) 3:59:39
6. Jordan Monnink (CAN) 4:00:13
7. Sean Jefferson (USA) 4:01:03
8. Lucas Pozzetta (USA) 4:02:20
9. Kevin Portmann (FRA) 4:03:00
10. Mikael Staer Nathan (DEN) 4:04:22
Women
1. Holly Lawrence (GBR) 4:14:24
2. Sarah True (USA) 4:18:21
3. Magali Tisseyre (CAN) 4:19:17
4. Jennifer Spieldenner (USA) 4:23:53
5. Amber Ferreira (USA) 4:30:03
6. Valerie Belanger (CAN) 4:34:11
7. Leslie Miller (USA) 4:34:29
8. Annie-Claude Gaudet (CAN) 4:38:08
