Germans Andreas Dreitz and Laura Philipp prevailed on a rainy day at Ironman 70.3 Mallorca.
Dreitz overcame a 1:12 deficit after the swim with a race-best bike split, and held off Bart Aernouts’ race-fastest run, to finish in 4:04:14 with a 2:37 margin of victory over the Belgian and 4:54 over 3rd place finisher Thomas Steger of Austria. Dreitz thus earned his third straight victory at the elegant Spanish Mediterranean resort.
Philipp was 2:04 behind 2012 Olympic champion Nicola Spirig of Switzerland after the swim, and then seized the lead two-thirds of the way through the challenging 90-kilometer bike leg on her way to a by-far women’s-best 2:35:08 split that gave her a 4-minute lead over Spirig at T2. Philipp held firm with a women’s 5th-fastest 1:24:53 run to finish in 4:32:38, with a 2:57 margin over runner-up Spirig and 8:20 over 3rd-place Emma Pallant of Great Britain. Pallant made up for an 11th-fastest 2:49:26 bike split with a women’s-best 1:19:4 run.
Men
Marcus Fernandes of Brazil led the swim in 23:01 which gave him 15 seconds over Tim Don of Great Britain, 18 seconds over Henrik Hyldelund of Denmark, 20 seconds over Stuart Hayes of Great Britain, 26 seconds over Mike Aigroz of Switzerland, 27 seconds over Miguel Rossello of Spain, 31 seconds over Markus Fachbach of Germany, 1:27 over Thomas Steger of Austria, and 3:50 over Bart Aernouts of Belgium.
By 15km, Hyldelund led Jonathan Ciavattella of Italy by 6 seconds, Rossello by 26 seconds, Don by 30 seconds, Fachbach by 33 seconds, Fernandes by 34 seconds, Dreitz by 57 seconds, Steger by 1:55, and Aernouts by 3:34. By 60km, Steger took the lead, followed by Dreitz, Hyldelund and Ciavattella. At 78 km, Dreitz extended his lead to 1:06 over Steger, 1:42 over Hyldelund, 4:28 over Rossello, 4:30 over Aernouts, and 5:17 over Fachbach.
After his race-best 2:17:39 bike split that was 1:34 better than the next best effort by Steger and 2:19 better than the 3rd-best ride by Aernouts, Dreitz led Hyldelund by 2:02, Steger by 2:05, and Aernouts by 4:58.
Aernouts charged hard with a race-best 1:14:49 run, which was fast enough to take down Steger for the runner-up slot but 2:37 short of Dreitz. Rossello ran a 4th-best 1:18:02 to finish 4th, 1:02 behind Steger, and Hyldelund faded to 5th with a 1:21:22 run.
Victor Del Corral of Spain tried valiantly to make up for his mediocre 2:25:32 bike split but his second-fastest 1:15:46 run could only bring him home in 8th place.
Women
Spirig led the women’s swim in 26:13 which gave her a 7 and 9 seconds lead on Mirjam Weerd of Netherlands and Emma Pallant of Great Britain, 1:31 on Natascha Schmitt of Germany, and 2:04 on Philipp.
By 78km of the challenging bike leg, Philipp took a 2:49 lead on Spirig, 7:16 on Schmitt, 9:06 on Sofie Goos of Belgium, and 10:48 on Pallant. After her women's-best 2:35:08 split, Philipp led Spirig by roughly 4 minutes, Schmitt by 5 minutes, Good by 8 minutes and Pallant by 12 minutes.
After her 5th-best 1:23:53 run, Philipp gave back one minute to Spirig, who took 2nd place. Pallant posted a women’s-best 1:19:41 run which took back 4:12 from the leader and brought her home in 3rd place, 5:23 behind Spirig.
Ironman 70.3 Mallorca
Alcudia, Mallorca, Spain
May 7, 2016
S 1.2 mi. / B 56 mi. / R 13.1 mi.
Results
Men
1. Andreas Dreitz (GER) 4:04:14
2. Bart Aernouts (BEL) 4:06:51
3. Thomas Steger (AUT) 4:09:10
4. Miguel Fidalgo Rossello (ESP) 4:10:12
5. Henrik Hyldelund (DEN) 4:10:36
6. Markus Fachbach (GER) 4:11:46
7. Mike Aigroz (SUI) 4:13:21
8. Victor Del Corral (ESP) 4:13:51
9. Alessandro Degasperi (ITA) 4:14:24
10. Marcus Fernandes (BRA) 4:15:09
Women
1. Laura Philipp (GER) 4:32:38
2. Nicola Spirig (SUI) 4:35:35
3. Emma Pallant (GBR) 4:40:48
4. Natascha Schmitt (GER) 4:41:03
5. Astrid Stienen (GER) 4:43:41
6. Sofie Goos (BEL) 4:45:18
7. Mirjam Weerd (NED) 4:45:26
8. Gurutze Frades (ESP) 4:45:37
9. Michaela Herlbauer (AUT) 4:46:35
10. Kate Comber (GBR) 4:56:46
