It was like the whole men’s race at WTCS Cagliari was a countdown to something special. A delayed start due to weather built the anticipation as another showdown between Alex Yee and Hayden Wilde brewed. A year ago the two men were separated by seconds after a back-and-forth fight on the run but today’s race conspired to make this edition the closest yet.
In the opening stages, it seemed Morgan Pearson was primed to play spoiler to the Yee-Wilde narrative. The victor at WTCS Yokohama navigated the waves the best of the leading names and was the fourth man out of the water in the first lap. The substantial waves built during the second lap and Pearson moved into the lead. Having been the fastest runner in Yokohama, it was certainly a statement by the American.
A series of premature dolphin dives cost Pearson the lead as the beach neared. Alberto Gonzalez Garcia and Alessio Crociani were on hand to exploit the situation and led into T1. Of Pearson’s rivals, Leo Bergere was 9 seconds back, while Yee and Wilde conceded 16 and 18 seconds, respectively.
Gonzalez instantly blasted away on the bike, building a lead of 14 seconds at the first timing split. The Spanish athlete needed a strong performance to bump his Olympic ranking into the top-30 in pursuit of a third male slot for his country at the Olympic Games. Behind, over twenty men stretched along the road in a loose group. Gonzalez would eventually sit up late in the first lap and twenty-eight men grouped together.
And then the countdown of athletes truly began.
Tim Hellwig missed out on the lead pack, as did Miguel Hidalgo and Hugo Milner, two of the fastest runners from Yokohama. Manoel Messias, the bronze medallist in Cagliari in 2022, was another to lose out.
At the front, Luke Willian was in the thick of the action after his bronze medal in Yokohama while Vincent Luis pulled a big turn. Such was the pace, the lead pack was down to twenty-four men at the end of the second lap.
Wilde and Samuel Dickinson then jumped clear, although Dickinson rode tactically in his audition to be Yee’s domestique at the Olympics and sat on Wilde’s wheel. Luckily for Wilde, Bergere jumped across too but Jonas Schomburg efforts brought the rest of lead group back to the trio. With the frequent bursts, the countdown of men continued and the end of the third lap saw the pack whittled down to twenty-one.
A sudden downpour threatened to switch the event up and with rain falling the road became slick. Far from the road causing the drama, though, the shift came as Pearson was dropped at the end of the fourth lap. A lap later, by the midpoint of the bike, the group was down to eighteen men and from there the countdown settled.
Some 20km later, Yee led off the bike and through T2 with Dickinson and Csongor Lehmann for company. Within 20 seconds, Yee and Wilde were clear of the field as their showdown fully materialised. Only Lehmann could go with them as the former World U23 champion hunted a maiden WTCS medal but even he soon lagged behind.
Vetle Bergsvik Thorn and Pierre Le Corre broke clear of the chasers on the second lap and set after Lehmann but Yee and Wilde were too good at the front, ticking off the final laps as the countdown entered its denouement.
Charles Paquet and Ricardo Batista moved alongside Thorn and Le Corre while Luke Willian also caught the pack behind Lehmann. The Hungarian athlete nonetheless drove for home with a medal in sight.
Little had separated Yee and Wilde throughout the 10km and the race perfectly matched the circumstances of a year prior. The only question was whether Wilde would be able to reverse the outcome in the tense closing stages.
In the end, Yee went early and decisively to take another win. Although his margin of victory was only 2 seconds, Yee once again proved that, when it comes to the run, he is the class of the men’s field. Wilde took another silver medal behind his great rival but could take plenty of positives from his performance, especially with regards to the swim and bike.
Lehmann then held on for 3rd place. A week earlier, a bronze medal at the Mixed Team Relay Olympic Qualification Event had been crushing for Lehmann as Hungary missed out on sending a team to Paris. Now, however, the same colour was a source of delight as he earned a maiden WTCS medal.
Thorn had the best finish of the chasers as the World Cup winner logged a personal best Series finish in 4th. Batista likewise hit a new best result in 5th place. Le Corre then crossed in 6th to lock in his Olympic qualification; after his bronze medal at WTCS Pontevedra last season, he had to prove his fitness with a top-6 result. Paquet and Willian then followed in quick succession while Luis and Schomburg rounded out the top-10.
View the full race results here.
