Collonge dominates Gerardmer XL
French pro triathlete Jeanne Collonge dominated the Gerardmer XL course in 4:59:15 and managed to finish 24th overall on this tough course that features just under 1,600 feet of climbing on each of the three 30k bike loops. Alexandra Tondeur of Belgium finished second and Eimear Mullan of Ireland third. The men's race saw a narrow 13 second win by Spain's Hector Guerra over Aussie Joe Gambles after another bike dominant performance by the former Spanish road pro who had been banned for doping. Robin Moussel of France finished third.
The women
A superb 23:20 swim split by Céline Schaerer allowed the Swiss to be first out of the water with 1:34 over fellow Swiss pro Nicole Hofer and 3:31 over Belgian Alexandra Tondeur. Jeanne Collonge and Eimear Mullan, who were among the favorites, were 4:22 and 5:13 off the pace.
Collonge quickly took the lead, and at the 23k mark the fast riding French athlete with an excellent bike position had a 15 second advantage over Tondeur and 1:11 over swim leader Schaerer. From there Collonge steadily pulled away and dropped all other challengers. At the halfway point of the bike, Tondeur was the closest at 3:10 and everyone else was at least 5 minutes adrift. When Collonge arrived at the bike-run transition she led by 8:48 over Tondeur, 14:48 over Hofer and a staggering 17:48 over Mullan.
Collonge then did what she had to do on the run with a solid 1:30:37 effort and that gave her a dominating 4:59:15 win.
The men
Manuel Kueng was the first pro out of the water in 22:22, with about a 40 second advantage over a group that contained among others defending champion Sylvain Sudrie, Mathias Hecht, Martin Jensen and Joe Gambles.
Sudrie and Gambles then took charge on the bike and pulled away from the others, except for Guerra who started the bike about 4 minutes behind the current race leaders. Gambles reached the halfway point first, 8 seconds ahead of Sudrie, but Guerra was now only 2:12 back. Sudrie soon after fell off the pace, but
Guerra came closer and closer. At 68k he was only 1:04 behind, and Sudrie now 4:41 behind the Aussie race leader. But just a few kilometers later, Guerra moved into the lead and eventually reached T2 with a 2:59 lead over Gambles and 9:19 over Kueng.
Gambles chased hard on the run and steadily gained on Guerra, but when it was all said and done he fell 13 seconds short and finished second to the Spaniard.
Guerra took the win in 4:28:52 and Gambles finished second in 4:29:05. Robin Moussel ran past Kueng to finish 3rd in 4:37:40. Ritchie Nicholls finished 5th.
But not everyone was happy with the men's results, and fourth-placed Manuel Kueng from Switzerland posted the following tweet after the race.
Feeling sorry for @joegambles for 2nd place just 14 seconds behind an (ex?) drugcheat…
— Manuel Küng (@m_kueng) September 5, 2015
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Gerardmer XL Triathlon
Gerardmer, France
September 5, 2015
1.9k swim / 90k bike / 21.1k run
Top men
1. Hector Guerra (ESP) 4:28:51 (27:00 / 2:31:27 / 1:24:15)
2. Joe Gambles (AUS) 4:29:04 (23:15 / 2:39:02 / 1:21:23)
3. Robin Moussel (FRA) 4:37:29 (25:40 / 2:46:21 / 1:20:25)
4. Manuel Küng (SUI) 4:39:29 (22:22 / 2:46:05 / 1:24:40)
5. Ritchie Nicholls (GBR) 4:40:48 (24:11 / 2:51:09 / 1:20:30)
Top women
1. Jeanne Collonge (FRA) 4:59:15 (27:41 / 2:53:52 / 1:30:37)
2. Alexandra Tondeur (BEL) 5:07:20 (26:50 / 3:04:32 / 1:30:12)
3. Eimear Mullan (IRL) 5:18:52 (28:32 / 3:11:51 / 1:32:19)
4. Stephanie Reymond (FRA) 5:24:01 (31:44 / 3:10:27 / 1:35:01)
5. Céline Schärer (SUI) 5:26:16 (23:19 / 3:18:35 / 1:38:07)
