Van Riel dives to European triathlon title
BySportsbeat
Published 28/10/2018 at 17:46 GMT
Belgium's Marten Van Riel held off Germany's Justus Nieschlag with a frantic dive across the finishing tape to secure the European Cup sprint triathlon in Funchal.
Eurosport
Image credit: Eurosport
Van Riel's victory came as no surprise, starting the race as the highest ranked athlete, and with top ten at the Rio Olympics on his resume.
The top group made up of Van Riel, Nieschlag, Anthony Pujades of France, Mark Devay of Hungary, and Ricardo Batista of Portugal dominated the event from the start.
These five athletes were first out of the water, before then putting a solid 40 seconds into the second group on the bike, with Devay leading much of the run.
Only Azerbaijan's Rostislav Pevstov managed to make any headway in catching the leaders, purely down to his phenomenal run time of 14.42 - the fastest of the event by 12 seconds.
A youthful British team remained in that frustrated second group, unable to clinch back any time on the determined leaders in the bike and run.
Sam Dickinson, 21, was the first Brit off the bike, but after clinching the U23 European Aquathlon title just three days earlier in Ibiza, quickly ran out of power on the run finishing 15th overall.
Ben Dijkstra, one of the rising stars in British triathlon, managed to put in the fifth fastest run time of the event, breaking into the top 10 and securing a respectable seventh.
Dijkstra's season has been marred by injury, after being diagnosed with a stress fracture in his hip in January.
This weekend's race was only his second international start this season, but a top-ten finish in a competitive field demonstrates his return to prior form.
Fellow British athletes Jack Willis and Cameron Harris, in his first senior season, also made the top 20.
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