Fleureton and Norden superb in Lorient, France.
Cedric Fleureton was victorious in today's Lorient BG Triathlon World Cup and the one-two finish of French men made the home crowd very happy. Lisa Norden won the women's race and with it her first career world cup title.
The 2007 junior world champion Aurelien Raphael of France finished the wetsuit legal swim in Lake Ter first, followed closely by Frederic Belaubre, also from France.
The French athletes were also very aggressive during the bike segment, and about halfway into the 40k bike Cedric Fleureton and Sylvain Sudrie managed to get away and only Frenchmen Tony Moulai and Laurent Vidal and New Zealand's Clarke Ellice managed to stay reasonably close. But the main group with many of the pre-race favorites did not work well together and came into T2 almost 2.5 minutes behind the leaders.
With the huge gap in hand, Fleureton and Moulai easily cruised to the top 2 podium spots, and while Fleureton celebrated his win, Moulai enjoyed his best World Cup finish to date. Ivan Rana rounded out the podium with a sub 30 minute run.
After the swim in the women's race, the lead pack started to swell as early leaders Jessica Harrison and Sarah Groff were getting reeled in. A group of 17 containing the favorites rode most of the race together and it soon became clear that the battle for the title would take place on the run. As predicted, the pack of 17 women arrived at the bike to run transition together and the race for the finish line was on.
That was all fine with Lisa Norden, who quickly took the lead on the run and easily cruised to victory. Sam Warriner grabbed second and Jessica Harrison earned third.
Lorient BG Triathlon World Cup / Lorient, France / September 25
Official Results
1.5km swim, 40km bike, 10km run
Elite men
1. Cedric Fleureton (FRA) 1:49:53
2. Tony Moulai (FRA) 1:51:01
3. Ivan Rana (ESP) 1:51:10
4. Steffen Justus (GER) 1:51:18
5. Laurent Vidal (FRA) 1:51:24
6. Oliver Freeman (GBR) 1:51:30
7. Clarke Ellice (NZL) 1:51:54
8. Dmitry Polyansky (RUS) 1:51:58
9. Nils Frommhold (GER) 1:51:59
10. Jonathan Zipf (GER) 1:51:59
Elite women
1. Lisa Norden (SWE) 2:02:05
2. Samantha Warriner (NZL) 2:02:39
3. Jessica Harrison (FRA) 2:02:44
4. Sarah Groff (USA) 2:02:52
5. Elizabeth May (LUX) 2:02:53
6. Anja Dittmer (GER) 2:02:59
7. Magali Di Marco Messmer (SUI) 2:03:03
8. Nicola Spirig (SUI) 2:03:10
9. Andrea Hewitt (NZL) 2:03:15
10. Andrea Whitcombe (GBR) 2:03:50
