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Aernouts earned 15,000 Euros for the triumph and added another highlight to a 2017 season that includes an impressive victory at Ironman Lanzarote. Although he did not score the fastest run this time around, Skipper repeated his 2016 Challenge Roth runner-up finish.
“We had a really close field on the men’s side and this showed in the run where there were quite a few position changes,” Aernouts told Challenge media. “I surprised myself a little bit – I am not the best swimmer and I was alone on the bike most of the time and I felt the headwind quite a lot… I had to be patient at the beginning and then took a risk and pushed at the half way point to get the lead and made it to the finish line.”
On a day when Sebastian Kienle of Germany scored the second-fastest men’s Ironman brand time in history with a 7:41:42 clocking at Ironman Frankfurt, Aernouts’ 7:59:07 winning time today was not as impressive - 23:28 slower than Jan Frodeno’s winning time last year at Roth. However, Aernouts can point to hotter weather this year at Roth. After all, Daniela Ryf faded to an 8:40:03 clocking this year at Roth, 18 minutes slower than her 2016 winning time.
Race recap
Maurice Clavel led the pro men’s swim in 44:49 which gave him a 3:42 lead on fellow German Sean Donnelly, 3:44 on Nils Frommhold of Germany, 3:46 on Brad Kahlefeldt of Australia, 3:47 on Terenzo Bozzone of New Zealand, 3:53 on Timo Bracht of Germany, 3:54 on Henry Beck of Germany, and 4:06 on Per Bittner of Germany.
After 37km of the bike leg, Donnelly led a pack of 7 followed by Frommhold, Bracht, Bozzone, Beck, Kahlefeldt and Bittner – all within an 11 seconds spread. Further back were Bart Aernouts of Belgium (+3:58), Joe Skipper of Great Britain (+5:35), and Christian Brader of Germany (+7:03).
After 50km, Frommhold took a 1:11 lead on Bozzone, 1:17 on Bracht, 1:19 on Maurice Clavel of Germany, 1:52 on Bittner, 2:45 on Donnelly, 4:08 on Kahlefeldt, and 6:48 on Aernouts.
At the finish of the bike leg, Clavel led the pro men with a 2:04 margin over Bracht, 4:46 on Bozzone, 6:43 on Aernouts, 7:56 on Dougal Allan of New Zealand, and 8:02 on dangerous Joe Skipper, who advanced to 2nd place at Roth last year with a race-best 2:38 marathon.
“We had a really close field on the men’s side and this showed in the run where there were quite a few position changes,” Aernouts told Challenge media. “I surprised myself a little bit – I am not the best swimmer and I was alone on the bike most of the time and I felt the headwind quite a lot… I had to be patient at the beginning and then took a risk and pushed at the half way point to get the lead and made it to the finish line.”
On a day when Sebastian Kienle of Germany scored the second-fastest men’s Ironman brand time in history with a 7:41:42 clocking at Ironman Frankfurt, Aernouts’ 7:59:07 winning time today was not as impressive - 23:28 slower than Jan Frodeno’s winning time last year at Roth. However, Aernouts can point to hotter weather this year at Roth. After all, Daniela Ryf faded to an 8:40:03 clocking this year at Roth, 18 minutes slower than her 2016 winning time.
Race recap
Maurice Clavel led the pro men’s swim in 44:49 which gave him a 3:42 lead on fellow German Sean Donnelly, 3:44 on Nils Frommhold of Germany, 3:46 on Brad Kahlefeldt of Australia, 3:47 on Terenzo Bozzone of New Zealand, 3:53 on Timo Bracht of Germany, 3:54 on Henry Beck of Germany, and 4:06 on Per Bittner of Germany.
After 37km of the bike leg, Donnelly led a pack of 7 followed by Frommhold, Bracht, Bozzone, Beck, Kahlefeldt and Bittner – all within an 11 seconds spread. Further back were Bart Aernouts of Belgium (+3:58), Joe Skipper of Great Britain (+5:35), and Christian Brader of Germany (+7:03).
After 50km, Frommhold took a 1:11 lead on Bozzone, 1:17 on Bracht, 1:19 on Maurice Clavel of Germany, 1:52 on Bittner, 2:45 on Donnelly, 4:08 on Kahlefeldt, and 6:48 on Aernouts.
At the finish of the bike leg, Clavel led the pro men with a 2:04 margin over Bracht, 4:46 on Bozzone, 6:43 on Aernouts, 7:56 on Dougal Allan of New Zealand, and 8:02 on dangerous Joe Skipper, who advanced to 2nd place at Roth last year with a race-best 2:38 marathon.
