A large field took the start line in the men’s U23 world championships and for much of the race the depth of the field seemed to weigh heavily.
From the first lap of the swim, the field stayed more or less together through much of the race. As Hungarian Gergely Kiss led the athletes through the first lap, the top 30 men were separated by barely 12 seconds. Italian Alessio Crociani took over the lead and upped the pace in the second lap, however the gaps that emerged were marginal at best.
After a lightning T1, Connor Bentley was the first onto his bike and he was quickly chased by 20 athletes. Wearing number 1, Jamie Riddle opted for an early attack, along with Bentley, and the duo managed to claw together a ten second advantage. The front pack, though, seemed content to let Riddle and Bentley dangle off the front and the gap did not grow.
Instead, they were caught and the front group steadied itself. Pre-race favourites Valentin Morlec and Paul Georgenthum were also present in the front group of 22 men, as were the early swim leaders Kiss and Crociani.
Riddle seemed determined to attack albeit in a manner that was a little haphazard. In contrast to Kate Waugh’s attack in the women’s race earlier today, his moves never gave much sense that they were planned or strategized. Before the race he spoke of wanting to race hard and “hurt” his rivals. It seemed he succeeded only in taking out his own legs.
On one level Riddle’s aggression should be applauded; he was one of the few athletes to enliven what was otherwise a relatively uneventful bike. Today may have been a valuable learning experience, though, and he may need to refine his entertaining style in the future if he is going to reap its rewards.
After strong work by Daniel Dixon and Eric Diener in the chase group, the front pack’s lead of half a minute was cut down. With two laps to go on the bike, the packs merged to form a group of 38. That was where some of the issues really took hold.
Inspired in part by the heat and humidity, the pace was about as dynamic as King Charles on a leisurely Sunday morning walk.
The last two laps in particular were mainly uneventful and did little to affect the overall race. At one point, when cycling over a three lane motorway, the pack was around 12 across with several athletes barely pedalling. Conserving energy was smart tactically, however the presence of that many athletes in a cluster led to issues.
As the pack went wide, Zsombor Dévay clipped the pavement and lost his balance. Meanwhile, Aram Michell Penaflor Moysen had to hop over the pavement to avoid a crash and also lost time. Towards the end of the final lap, several men were caught up round a tight corner and had to unclip from their bikes as traffic slowed the group to a halt.
After those wobbles, 36 men came off the bike together in T2.
Much like his T1, Bentley had a great T2 and emerged first. Yet it was his team-mate, Hamish Reilly, that surged into the lead though. Over the opening kilometres, Max Stapley and Maxime Fluri joined the leading Brits and the four men tried to force the pace.
However, at the end of the first lap, a group of 11 men ran together. Early in the second lap, Paul Georgenthum joined the group as Riddle slipped out of the top-15.
Bentley and Reilly continued to push towards the end of the second lap and noticeably were two of the few athletes to neglect taking on liquid or cooling. Whereas Bentley seemed relaxed, Reilly seemed to suffer from this over the course of the third lap.
Nevertheless, as the front group narrowed into a quintet of Bentley, Reilly, Kiss, Diener and John Reed, it was Reilly that launched the biggest attack. Reed quickly lost ground and only Bentley could react at first. Slowly, Kiss pulled the Brits back and Diener also managed to eventually recover.
All of the leading four opted against taking on water or an ice pack as they entered the final lap. It was then that Reilly started to look the most uncomfortable but he soldiered through the heat. As much as he tried, though, Reilly had no answer when Bentley attacked up the short hill early on the final lap. Kiss reacted but could not close the gap. In doing so, he left Diener and Reilly behind.
As he extended his lead, Bentley looked incredibly smooth and the 2022 British Champion put 14 seconds into Kiss over the course of the next two kilometres. By the time he made it to the blue carpet, he could enjoy the moment and drape the British flag around his shoulders.
Kiss held on for silver and actually matched Bentley’s run split of 30:57, the fastest of the day. Reilly managed to edge Diener for bronze. Further down the field, Fluri rallied for 5th, Stapley took 6th and Georgenthum managed to secure 7th. Saxon Morgan of New Zealand impressed as he finished 8th while Reed battled to hold onto 9th.
Itamar Ished of Israel rounded out the top-10 as he finished 10th.
With two wins from two in the U23 races, attention will now turn to the men’s and women’s WTCS Finals where Great Britain has a chance to sweep the wins in Abu Dhabi.
View the full men’s U23 results here.
