Last year Andreas Dreitz watched as fellow German Sebastian Kienle torched him by 6:43 to relegate him to the runner-up slot at this race.
This year, Dreitz led the race from the 40km mark on the bike and claimed a lead at T2 with a race-best 4:13:12 bike split. While seven men behind him chipped at his lead with faster runs, Dreitz ran 2:51:11, which held off his pursuers and brought him to the finish line in 7:59:02 with a 3:18 margin of victory over Jesper Svensson of Sweden and 5:46 over 3rd place finisher Cameron Wurf of Australia.
"I went through many ups and downs today,” said Dreitz to Challenge Media. “This victory here is insane."
Svensson led the swim in 48:27 – 3:01 better than Dreitz – but the three Andies (Dreitz, Böcherer and Andy Potts) charged past on the bike and relegated Svensson to 4th place at T2.
Significantly, David McNamee of Scotland was in the hunt until he suffered a flat tire halfway through the 180km bike leg - and lost more than 10 minutes struggling to repair the tire.
Svensson then ignited a comeback with a 5th-best 2:48:03 marathon which brought him home in second place, 3:18 behind the winner. Cameron Wurf, who for once did not dominate the bike leg, ran a 6th-best 2:50:37 to round out the podium, 5:06 behind the winner.
Bart Aernouts of Belgium ran 3rd-best 2:47:49 to take 4th place, 40 seconds behind Wurf and 1:02 ahead of 5th place David McNamee. McNamee charged hard on the run to make up time lost due to the flat tire, but his race-best 2:41:01 marathon left him in 5th place, 6:50 behind the winner.
Photo by Ingo Kutsche
Challenge Roth
Roth, Germany
July 7, 2019
S 2.4 mi. / B 112 mi. / R 26.2 mi.
Results
Men
1. Andreas Dreitz (GER) 7:59:02 S 51:28 T1 1:47 B 4:13:12 T2 1:27 R 2:51:11- EUR 14,000
2. Jesper Svensson (SWE) 8:02:20 S 48:27 T1 1:19 B 4:22:30 T2 1:23 R 2:48:43 - EUR 7,000
3. Cameron Wurf (AUS) 8:04:08 S 54:38 T1 1:42 B 4:15:53 T2 1:19 R 2:50:37 - EUR 3,500
4. Bart Aernouts (BELI) 8:04:48 S 56:11 T1 1:34 B 4:17:57 T2 1:19 2:47:49 - EUR 2,000
5. David McNamee (GBR) 8:05:50 S 50:21 T1 1:29 B 4:31:39 T2 1:22 R 2:41:01- EUR 1,000
6. Alessandro Degasperi (ITA) 8:08:24 S 53:45 T1 1:39 B 4:29:02 T2 1:56 R 2:42:05 - EUR 900
7. Andy Potts (USA) 8:09:39 S 50:20 T1 1:34 B 4:17:43 T2 1:44 R 2:58:20 - EUR 800
8. Jens Petersen-Bach (DEN) 8:13:01 S 51:38 T1 1:37 B 4:30:12 T2 1:27 2:48:08 - EUR 700
9. Christian Störzer (GER) 8:17:47 S 56:37 T1 2:31 B 4:26:23 T2 1:09 R 2:51:10- EUR 600
10. Matthew Russell (USA) 8:18:11 S 57:23 T1 1:32 B 4:25:35 T2 1:37 R 2:52:06 - EUR 500
