Billard, Deckers win Pays d’Aix
Bertrand Billard edged Maurice Clavel by 1:51 and Tine Deckers of Belgium topped Julia Gajer of Germany by 6:11 to win an unseasonably cold, swim-canceled Ironman 69.1 Pays d’Aix.
With air temperatures a teeth-chattering 40 degrees Fahrenheit at the start, race officials canceled the swim and sent the pros off on a time trial bike start at 20 seconds intervals. With starting order determined by a lottery and little way of knowing where they stood, the race turned into a true time trial contest whose results could only be known after the finish.
Men
With relative standing only known post-race, Christian Birngruber of Austria led at 30.8 km with a split of 43:16 on the clock, which gave him a 1 second lead on Maurice Clavel of Germany, 10 seconds lead on Billard, 30 seconds on Arnaud Guilloux of France, 1:06 on Matthias Knossalla of Germany, 1:29 on Gwenael Ouilleres of France, and 2:31 on overall threat David McNamee of Great Britain. At 57.5 km, Birngruber maintained a 2 seconds lead on Clavel, 23 seconds on Billard, 45 seconds on Marcus Herbst of Germany 1:10 on Guilloux, 2:06 on Knossalla and 2:37 on Ouilleres.
At the finish of the 90km bike leg, Billard clocked in with a race-best 2:14:35 bike split that seized the lead on elapsed time and gave him a 2:12 lead on Herbst, 2:23 on Clavel, 2:42 in Birngruber, 3:57 on Guilloux and 4 minutes plus on Knossalla and Ouilliers.
While Clavel cut 32 seconds from Billard’s lead with an 8th–best 1:13:30 half marathon, he fell 1:49 short of Billard’s winning time and took 2nd. In a textbook example of the lack of knowledge of competitive standing in the time trial format, Christian Birngruber’s relatively slow 1:15:11 run split was enough to edge David McNamee’s race-best 1:10:26 half marathon by 1 second in elapsed time and earn the final spot on the men’s podium.
Women
Unlike the men’s race, women's winner Tine Deckers dominated and allowed little drama with her chasers.
By 30.8 km of the opening bike segment, Deckers had a 2:24 lead on Nikki Bartlett of Great Britain, 3:00 on another Brit Kimberley Morrison, 3:20 on Camille Deligny of France and 3:54 on dangerous rival Julia Gajer of Germany.
After her by far women's-best 2:31:55 90 km bike leg, Deckers led Bartlett by 6:22, Morrison by 6:53, Gajer by 7:58, Deligny by 9:09 and Alexandra Tondeur by 14:01.
With such a cushion, Deckers cruised home with a 4th-best 1:22:06 run which brought her to the finish in 3:56:18 with a 6:11 advantage on runner-up Gajer (women's-best 1:20:31 run) and 7:49 on 3rd-place Bartlett.
Ironman 70.3 Pays d’Aix
Aix en Provence, France
May 1, 2016
B 56 mi. / R 13.1 mi.
Results
Men
1. Bertrand Billard (FRA) 3:30:32
2. Maurice Clavel (GER) 3:32:21
3. Christian Birngruber (AUT) 3:34:21
4. David McNamee (GBR) 3:34:22
5. Gwenael Ouilleres (FRA) 3:34:25
Women
1. Tine Deckers (BEL) 3:56:18
2. Julia Gajer (GER) 4:02:29
3. Nikki Bartlett (GBR) 4:04:07
4. Kimberley Morrison (GBR) 4:07:36
5. Astrid Stienen (GER) 4:08:48
6. Alexandra Tondeur (BEL) 4:12:22
