Vitoria (EFE).- Gurutze Frades and Gwénaël Changeon dominated the Ironman in Vitoria and took the women’s professional event and the men’s general, respectively.
Frades fulfilled the forecasts and was the best female with a time of 8 hours, 46 minutes and 18 seconds, while the French Gwénaël Changeon stopped the clock at 8:22:18.
The professional women’s event was the first to start in the Ullibarri-Gamboa reservoir with a 3.8-kilometre swimming course.
The 180-kilometre bicycle circuit passed through the Álava plain, in the vicinity of the reservoir itself, bound for the Basque capital, where the public took to the streets to wrap up the participants in the 42.2-kilometre marathon that took place through the streets of the center of Vitoria in a circuit of four laps.
Gurutze Frades was seventh in the wet segment and left the reservoir 6:33 behind the leader, Helene Alberdi.
He began to gain positions from the transition and finished the bike course in fourth position almost eleven minutes behind Els Visser, but in the marathon he flew.
At kilometer 8 she was already second and had cut three minutes from the first one and that is that each kilometer was completed in just four minutes.
So at 18 kilometers he was already commanding the race. He was increasing the distance with her pursuer, the German Svenja Thoes, whom he led by seven minutes in a finish line that she crossed after completing the last kilometers with honors.
Third was Els Visser, who broke down in the foot race and closed his participation in 9 hours and 9 minutes.
The French athlete Gwénaël Changeon enters the finish line. EFE/David Aguilar
Changeon’s comeback
In the men’s general event, Gwénaël Changeon’s comeback was even greater on the bike.
Coming out of the water in 62nd place 10 minutes off the lead, he made a great transition to cut 20 places.
The first 24 kilometers were key. In that time he was among the top ten and in the first lap he was already the leader.
In the marathon he stretched the difference and entered with a considerable advantage at the finish line.
The second was the local David Mendes who also closed the gap and stopped the time at 8:38:51.
The podium was completed by Frenchman Nicolas Durif with a time of 8 hours and 42 minutes. EFE