At every turn, the women’s race at the Karlovy Vary World Cup seemed to hold an unexpected twist.
Famed for the leg-sapping climbs on the course, it was expected to be a playground for the cyclists. Yet the swimmers were the ones to make hay early on.
Therese Feuersinger led the early exchanges. With a long, elegant stroke, she glided through the water at half the effort and twice the speed of some others in the field. Bianca Seregni sat on Feuersinger’s feet with Sophie Alden in tow.
During the first lap, Selina Klamt scrambled to cling on to the lead trio and just about managed to do so. On the second lap, she secured herself as the leaders converted a 10 second gap into one that neared 45 seconds.
Anabel Knoll led the chasers. Such was the damage, only nine women emerged within a minute of the lead quartet. Among the chase group was Gwen Jorgensen, the winner of the Valencia World Cup. She emerged 49 seconds down on the leaders. A small gap separated the chasers from a small group containing Julie Derron. Then another gap appeared until Lotte Miller emerged. With Solveig Løvseth also having lost a major chunk of time, three of the best cyclists in the field had been cast away.
It has become somewhat unusual to not see Seregni lead the swim. Her tactics soon became clear though as she jumped onto the bike and pushed a high pace. Having meted out her effort in the swim perfectly, the Italian athlete added further time to the leaders’ advantage.
The front four had brutalised the rest of the field and by the time they arrived into the town their lead had grown to 52 seconds. Alden looked strong in particular and got through plenty of work. Far from the bike determining the day, it seemed the swim had settled affairs.
Yet with seven laps of 4.9km to come, each of which contained an unhealthy dose of climbing, there was still plenty of time for the race to evolve.
Derron caught the Knoll group. Along with her compatriot Anja Weber, she set about dismantling the gap to the leaders. Heading into the town, the chase pack had contained ten women, including Marta Pintanel Raymundo and Marlene Gomez-Göggel. They lost Barbara De Koning, however, on one of the early hills.
With an almighty first lap, Derron ground the deficit down to 35 seconds. She had won a 70.3 distance race a week prior so her cycling was clearly on form.
By the third lap, she and Weber had erased the gap to the leaders entirely.
After all of her work, Feuersinger was dropped, leaving twelve women at the front. Throughout each of the subsequent laps, Derron looked imperious. Weber almost broke away on one ascent while Rachel Klamer, Tereza Zimovjanova and Cecilia Santamaria Surroca rode confidently.
Just as the bike threatened to shake up proceedings once more, though, the race became muted.
The chasers languished over 90 seconds behind and the leaders began to turn their attentions to the run rather than attacking on the final laps.
Without a break attempt, the twelve leaders arrived in T2 together. Weber, Derron and Klamt swept through transition and onto the run. Derron quickly took the lead, with Klamer on her heels, but no one quite seized control. After a careful T2, Jorgensen was closing on the lead with the Jaws theme playing in the background, or at least in the heads of some of her rivals.
A group of six consolidated themselves at the front over the first lap on the run. Gomez-Göggel, Klamt and Seregni sat behind Derron, Klamer and Jorgensen. On the second lap, Seregni became the first casualty of the rise in intensity and by the end of the lap Jorgensen had launched her full attack.
Klamer, however, refused to buckle.
Gomez-Göggel and Derron looked to fight out the bronze, although the German athlete had a 15 second penalty to serve. With bronze seemingly settled, then, the intrigue lay up ahead.
All logic dictated that Jorgensen would stride clear, as she had so many times before. Nevertheless, fresh off an altitude training camp, Klamer did not simply cling to her like a limpet; she assumed the lead on the third lap and inflicted some pain of her own.
For the second half of the run, there was nothing to separate the two.
The finish drew closer but both were fully extended and neither would crack. As they rounded onto the blue carpet, the inevitable sprint for the line fired into life. Klamer seemed to have the early edge but Jorgensen charged through. Still Klamer seemed to have something left but then her legs said, “no more”.
She had the good grace to applaud her rival in the final steps as Jorgensen broke the tape to claim a second straight World Cup win. After her fantastic effort, Klamer can carry great confidence into the WTCS Final in Pontevedra.
Karlovy Vary, though, was not done yet.
In a final twist, Gomez-Göggel rallied from her penalty to catch Derron. Not content to stop there, the German nailed her closing kilometres to seal another bronze medal to go with the one she earned in Valencia.
Derron settled for 4th in a very encouraging display while Klamt came home in 5th place.
You can view the full results here.
