Europe Triathlon

Over the last few races our triathletes have been blessed with beautiful weather, perfect for competition, and Cremona was no different. With a water temperature of 22 degrees it was even a non-wetsuit swim.

Women’s Review

The women’s race got away cleanly and it was the Italian Gaia Peron who came out the water in first position, followed by Drews (GER) and Densham (AUS). The first athletes out of T1 and onto the bikes formed a distinctive leading group of around eight competitors.

The chasing pack was led by Mateja Simic. The Slovenian has been in terrific form in 2011 and she ate up the course on the bike. Simic and the group negotiated the very technical course with ease and managed to catch the race leaders on the third lap.

At the beginning of the run, it was the Australian Erin Densham along with Simic, who started very quickly and maintained a pace which could not be matched by the chasing pack. Densham was always just out in front and eventually increased the gap as Simic dropped back.

Behind the front two, an epic battle was forming between Mazzetti (ITA), Avil (GBR) and Frintova (CZE) for the third podium sport. There was delight for the home crowd as Italian Mazzetti did just enough to edge out Frintova and secure third spot.

Erin Densham always looked like the winner with Mateja Simic second and Annamaria Mazzetti third.


Men’s Review

The men also got away cleanly and after the briefest of swims it was Anthony Pujades (FRA) who was first out of the water. At this stage Pujades had a nine second gap over fellow countrymen Pierre Le Corre and James Elvery (NZ). But after T1 any gaps were quickly extinguished and there remained nothing between the athletes for the remainder of the race.

A very large bike group negotiated sharp corners at breakneck speed, thrilling spectators and entering T2 there was no clear leader. This was one of the most exciting races of the year and also one of the toughest as the athletes gave everything on the final run, with the fight only ending at the finish line.

The winner was Italian Daniel Hofer, just two seconds ahead of Germany’s Daniel Unger, and four seconds ahead of Todd Leckie (GBR) in third. Only nine seconds separated the top five athletes, testament to the competitive spirit of Triathlon.