Italian Alessandro Fabian left it to the final miles of the race while Brit Lucy Byram held on for a comfortable victory to win the men’s and women’s edition of Ironman 70.3 Venice on 9 October.

The fast and flat course on the Italian coast saw Fabian close a more than two-minute deficit at the start of the run leg to win in 3:41:06. Frenchman Mathias Margirier finished second by 34 seconds in 3:41:40 and Italian Gregory Barnaby closed out the podium in 3:43:43.

In the women’s race, Byram took the lead on the bike and never looked back. She won by two-and-a-half minutes in 4:09:48. Diede Diedericks from the Netherlands finished second in 4:12:17 and Italian Giorgia Priarone finished third in 4:14:24.

Mens Race

German Hannes Butters led the men out of the water in a fast 21:56. Swiss Sven Thalmann was four seconds behind, and Fabian had a twenty-second deficit to the leader.

A pack of six formed briefly on the bike before Margirier pushed huge watts with the fastest split of the day and opened up a 1:23 gap going into the run transition. Fabian was 2:01 down but on the run he slowly chipped away at the lead. The Italian didn’t have the fastest split of either the run, bike or swim, but his consistency put him in a position to win.

With two miles left Fabian passed the Frenchman Margirier and held on for the victory.

Women’s Race

Brit Rosie Weston led the professional women out of the water in 25:13, with Byram 13 seconds down. Italian Lilli Gelmini came out of the water in third at 31 seconds down with a large ensuing gap to the other women.

But on the bike, Byram quickly took over. She built a five-minute lead over South African Jade Nicole Roberts, followed by the Italian Priarone.

Flying through the run course was Diedericks from the Netherlands, however the fastest female run split was not enough to close the gap on Byram.

MENS RESULTS
Alessandro Fabian (ITA) -- 3:41:06
Mathias Margirier (FRA) -- 3:41:40
Gregory Barnaby (ITA) -- 3:43:43
Ognjen Stojanovic (SRB) -- 3:44:40
Adriano Engelhardt (SWI) -- 3:45:13
Jonas Hoffman (GER) -- 3:45:50
Thomas Bishop (GBR) -- 3:46:59
Nicola Duchi (ITA) -- 3:47:09

WOMENS RESULTS
Lucy Byram (GBR) -- 4:09:48
Diede Diedericks (NED) -- 4:12:17
Giorgia Priarone (ITA) -- 4:14:24
Svenja Thoes (GER) -- 4:15:25
Jade Nicole Roberts (RSA) -- 4:14:48
Anna Noguera (ESP) -- 4:17:13