Andi Böcherer of Germany defended his 2018 title with a sizzling bike split and Emma Pallant of Great Britain ran as if she had wings on her shoes to take top honors at Ironman 70.3 Pays D’Aix.
Men
Böcherer overcame a 5th-best swim and a 56 seconds deficit with a dominating 2:09:52 bike split – 2:39 better than his nearest challenger – which gave him a 3:44 lead at T2. Once on the run, Adam Bowden of Great Britain rose quickly from 5th place and a 5:34 deficit to challenge Böcherer. But after a 1:08:41 half marathon, Bowden fell 1:12 short of the victory as Böcherer held on with a 3rd- best 1:12:59 run split.
Böcherer took gold in 3:52:16, Bowden took silver in 3:53:28 and Andreas Dreitz made it a 1-3 German podium with a 3:56:37 finish that featured a 2nd-best 1:12:55 run.
Women
India Lee of Great Britain led the pro women with a 26:10 swim which gave her a 37 seconds lead on Rachel McBride of Canada, 39 seconds on Fenella Langridge of Great Britain, 1:54 in Katrien Verstuyft of Belgium, 1:57 on Pallant, 2:55 on Nikki Bartlett of Great Britain, 3:07 on Anne Reischmann of Germany and 4:03 on Tine Deckers of Belgium.
Halfway through the 90 kilometer ride, Pallant took a 5 seconds advantage on Lee and Langridge with Bartlett 2:39 arrears for a 1-2-3-4 British phalanx at the front, Verstuyft and Reischmann rode 4 minutes back with Deckers 5 minutes arrears.
By 75 km, Lee stuck within 5 seconds of Pallant, while Bartlett advanced to 3rd, 2:39 arrears, while Langridge fell out of contention.
After a women's 2nd-best 2:29:19 bike split, Pallant made up virtually all of her swim deficit but arrived in T2 1 second behind India Lee (2:31:05 bike split) and 1:20 ahead of Nikki Bartlett, who rode a women’s-best 2:28:39 bike split.
After 5km of the run, Pallant carved out a 48 seconds lead on Lee and 2:48 on Bartlett. On her way to a sizzling 1:16:59 run, Pallant arrived at 13km with a 2:54 lead on Lee and 4:58 on Bartlett. At 16km, Pallant led Lee by 3:37 and Bartlett by 5:11. At 18km, Lee fell 4:40 back of Pallant while Bartlett charged to within 49 seconds of Lee. By 20km, Bartlett surged to within 24 seconds of Lee.
While Pallant cruised to finish first in 4:19:56, Bartlett outsprinted Lee to take 2nd, 5:19 behind Pallant and 15 seconds ahead of Lee.
Ironman 70.3 Pays D’Aix
Aix en Provence, France
May 12, 2019
S 1.2 mi. / B 56 mi. / R 13.1 mi.
Results
Men
1. Andi Böcherer (GER) 3:52:16 S 23:58 T1 3:17 B 2:09:52 T2 2:12 R 1:12:59
2. Adam Bowden (GBR) 3:53:28 S 23:07 T1 3:28 B 2:16:04 T2 2:09 R 1:08:41
3. Andreas Dreitz (GER) 3:56:37 S 25:05 T1 3:47 B 2:12:31 T2 2:21 R 1:12:55
4. Marcus Herbst (GER) 3:56:51 S 25:03 T1 2:53 B 2:12:53 T2 2:14 R 1:13:49
5. Arnaud Guilloux (FRA) 3:57:20 S 25:04 T1 3:33 B 2:12:51 T2 2:12 R 1:13:42
Women
1. Emma Pallant (GBR) 4:19:56 S 28:07 T1 3:03 B 2:29:19 T2 2:30 R 1:16:59
2. Nikki Bartlett (GBR) 4:25:15 S 29:05 T1 4:05 B 2:28:39 T2 2:24 R 1:21:03
3. India Lee (GBR) 4:25:30 S 26:10 T1 3:15 B 2:31:05 T2 2:34 R 1:22:29
4. Anne Reischmann (GER) 4:34:19 S 29:17 T1 3:35 B 2:33:25 T2 2:32 R 1:25:33
5. Tine Deckers (BEL) 4:35:34 S 30:13 T1 3:47 B 2:32:18 T2 2:23 R 1:26:56
