Boris Stein of Germany won it on the bike, and Camilla Pedersen of Denmark won it on the bike and the run at the Ironman 70.3 European Championship in Wiesbaden.

Stein overcame a 3 minute deficit on the swim with a by-far-fastest 2:15:51 split on a punishing, hilly bike course. He then defended his 5-minute lead off the bike with an 8th-best 1:16:51 run to finish in 4:03:08 with a 1:55 margin of victory over fellow German Andreas Raelert and 3:45 over 3rd-place finisher Ruedi Wild of Switzerland.

The win follows Stein’s victory on an equally challenging bike course at Ironman France on June 28.

Pedersen combined a women’s 4th-best 27:36 swim, 2nd-fastest 2:40:31 bike split and women's 2nd-quickest 1:24:10 half marathon, to finish in 4:36:04 with a 4:25 margin of victory over runner-up Anja Beranek of Germany and 7:10 over 3rd-place finisher Alexandra Tondeur of Belgium.

Pedersen continues to thrive two years after her near-fatal bike crash while training near her home in Denmark that left her in a weeks-long coma. In 2014, Pedersen won four half-Ironman distance events plus the ITU long distance World Championship. Earlier this year she won 70.3s in Kraichgau and Barcelona and took 2nd at the ITU long distance worlds in Motala, Sweden.

Men

Swiss Manuel Kueng led the swim in 24:20, followed closely by Frederic Belaubre of France, Maurice Clavel of Germany, Martijn Dekker of Netherlands and 3-time ITU Olympic distance World Champion Peter Robertson of Australia. Further back were Kevin Collington of the U.S., (+45s), Raelert (+49s), and Stein (+2:59).

At the 21k mark, Clavel took the lead, followed closely by Kueng. One to two minutes back was a pack that included Raelert, Antony Costes, Ruedi Wild, Jonathan Ciavattella and Horst Reichl. Soon thereafter, Clavel dropped a chain and fell back into the main chase pack leaving Kueng in the lead. By 38km, Raelert surged into a 25 seconds lead approaching the long climb to the Platte.

On the Platte and Wiesbaden’s subsequent serious climbs, Stein took absolute charge. On his way to a dominant 2:15:51 bike split that was 6:40 better than the next-best efforts of Andreas Dreitz and Raelert, Stein opened up a 4:56 lead on Raelert, and 6 and a half minutes on a large pack that included Dreitz, Kueng, Wild, Costes, Clavel and Collington.

Armed with his substantial lead off the bike, Stein could afford to give back a little over 3 minutes to the race-best runs of Wild (1:13:37) and Raelert (1:13:45) and finish with comfortable margins over both.

Antony Costes, on the merits of a 3rd-fastest 1:14:40 run, took 4th place, 4:22 behind the winner. After a well-balanced race, Collington took 5th, 2:20 behind Costes.

Women

Celine Schaerer of Switzerland led the women’s swim in 26:29, followed by Frenchwomen Camille Donat (+42 seconds) and Charlotte Morel (+1:05), Pedersen (+1:07), Radka Vodickova of the Czech Republic (+1:07), Beranek (+2:04), Michelle Vesterby of Denmark (+ 2:04) and Tondeur (+2:51).

By 21km, Beranek and Pedersen rode together to the front, earning a 90-seconds lead on Morel and Schaerer and around 2:10 on Vodickova and Tondeur. Following the script of their duel earlier this year at Ironman 70.3 Kraichgau where they rode 90 kilometers together in the lead, Pedersen led Beranek by 3 second at T2 with Natascha Schmitt of Germany 5:11 arrears and Tondeur and Morel more than 7 minutes back.

Pedersen and Beranek ran together for 10km until the Danish star made a break. By 15.5km, Pedersen’s lead grew to 2:23 on Beranek and maintained a 4:17 advantage over Tondeur. At the finish, Pedersen led Beranek by 4:25, Tondeur by 7:10, Schmitt by 8:49, Vesterby by 13:49 and Vodickova by 14:48.

Ironman 70.3 European Championship Wiesbaden
Wiesbaden, Germany
August 9, 2015
S 1.2 mi. / B 56 mi. / R 13.1 mi.

Results

Men

1. Boris Stein (GER) 4:03:08
2. Andreas Raelert (GER) 4:05:03
3. Ruedi Wild (SUI) 4:06:53
4. Antony Costes (FRA) 4:07:30
5. Kevin Collington (USA) 4:09:50
6. Manuel Kueng (SUI) 4:11:36
7. Andreas Dreitz (GER) 4:12:29
8. Andreas Giglmayr (AUT) 4:12:54
9. Albert Molins (ESP) 4:13:23
10. Stenn Goetstouwers (BEL) 4:15:48

Women

1. Camilla Pedersen (DNK) 4:36:04
2. Anja Beranek (GER) 4:40:29
3. Alexandra Tondeur (BEL) 4:43:14
4. Natascha Schmitt (GER) 4:44:53
5. Michelle Vesterby (DNK) 4:49:53
6. Radka Vodickova (CZE) 4:50:52
7. Laura Zimmerman (GER) 4:53:01 * F25-29
8. Nina Kuhn (GER) 4:53:25
9. Charlotte Morel (FRA) 4:54:38
10. Astrid Stienen (GER) 4:56:03

Images © Karsten Täschner / slowtwitch.com