Of course it was those two. It had to be.
Prior to WTCS Cagliari, the men’s narrative had circled the duo of Alex Yee and Hayden Wilde – each of whom possessed a win apiece in the Series this season – like vultures waiting to pick at the carcass of whichever would lose. For one of them had to lose.
From the off, though, it was Yee that lost his footing as he managed to stumble and then tumble down the beach as the rest of the field hurdled into the sea. The long run through the shallows enabled a few men to steal a march on the field. Jamie Riddle was one such athlete as he and Henri Schoeman led the way to the first buoy.
Over the first swim lap, the South Africans managed to set a tough pace and stretched the field. However it was Dorian Coninx that circled the beach first. Vasco Vilaca was fairly close behind while Yee had moved up to 25th. More significantly, he was 5 seconds ahead of Wilde.
Meanwhile, Kristian Blummenfelt’s day did not get off to an ideal start. The Olympic champion lost 28 seconds during the first lap and sat in 53rd place.
The pace dropped a little on the second lap as Riddle reclaimed the lead and the pack bulged as athletes drew alongside one another. In the late stages, Márk Dévay performed his classic trick and popped up to lead the men into T1. Wilde and Yee left the water together, 15 seconds behind the Hungarian leader.
Riddle, Dévay, Coninx and Nicolo Strada jumped ahead of the field on the bike but a hefty chase pack had gathered behind. By the end of the first of the ten bike laps, a front pack of twenty-two had gathered. Among them were Yee, Wilde, Vilaca, Bergere and Coninx.
A small group sat less than 10 seconds behind while Blummenfelt headed up the third pack, 28 seconds down.
That small group, though, would ultimately disintegrate. Johannes Vogel and Jonathan Brownlee managed to slide into the lead group, taking its number to twenty-four. The others were no so lucky. Before long, they were gobbled up by Blummenfelt’s chase group.
With the field split in half, the men’s field had the closest thing to a true breakaway of the season. The lead group continued to pile on the pressure and by lap 7 the lead was a mere second shy of the minute mark.
Near the front, Wilde and Yee continued to eyeball one another. In a sign of his confidence, Wilde was willing to drift to the back of the group and rest his legs, sure in the knowledge that a couple of quick revolutions of his pedals would see him catch any attack.
In a slight shift from his previous tactics, Leo Bergere also rode a much more careful race and kept his powder dry on the bike.
By the end of the bike, the lead pack had successfully dispatched threats like Adrien Briffod, Vetle Bergsvik Thorn and Blummenfelt in the chase. Only the run remained.
If the race had to be about Wilde and Yee, then the start of the run had to be about one man. Of course it had to be about Jonas Schomburg. As is his wont, the German flew out of the traps and took an early lead. However, this time, as the first kilometre came and went, something new happened. Schomburg stayed clear.
When he crossed the line to mark the end of the first of four run laps, it was apparent that today was his day.
Yee and Wilde nonetheless hunted Schomburg down. With Pierre Le Corre for company, they eventually made the catch. Bergere sat behind and could only watch from afar as Yee and Wilde dropped Le Corre and left Schomburg behind.
The second lap therefore solidified around the Yee-Wilde arc. The pair exchanged the lead several times over the course of the lap, without either showing their true hand. On the third lap, Yee started to look a little better as Wilde appeared to want to hold something in reserve. In an abrupt change, the roles switched as Wilde then tried to inject some pace.
Away from the battle at the front, Coninx had started his climb through the field and had risen to 6th. As the final lap drew closer, he caught Schomburg and Bergere passed Le Corre.
The Sardinian heat burned upon the athletes and Wilde winced as he tried to push ahead. Yee parried the move and then had a stab of his own. Again, though, Wilde was equal to it. By now Yee’s face was etched with probably more suffering than he had ever shown at this point in a race. Both men were digging ever deeper at a furious rate but none would crack.
For a second it seemed like Yee had a gap and could have gone but the chance vanished. Yet his focus remained. As the blue carpet neared, Yee found his final gear and went in last few hundred metres.
It was at that point, after a gargantuan effort, that Wilde cracked.
He tried to rally but the race was lost. Behind his smiles at the finish line for his friend, Wilde will have known his search for a method of beating Yee will drag on.
Bergere was the next man across the line to claim his first WTCS medal of the season. Coninx came home in 4th for another top-5 finish; after an up and down season last year, he has found a new level of consistency.
Le Corre crossed the line in 5th while Schomburg took a valiant 6th place. He was followed closely by Csongor Lehmann and Vasco Vilaca. Kenji Nener took 9th and Lasse Lührs earned 10th in his first WTCS appearance of the year.
In the bigger picture, though, the race was only about two men. Both can be proud of their efforts; Yee will no doubt be the happier of the two as he reasserts his authority in the Series.
Still, as much as Wilde’s search for the key to beating his rival continues, he’s getting closer. And Yee knows it.
View the full results here.
