It all looked so simple.
When Hayden Wilde, the only male WTCS race winner of 2023 in the field, moved into the lead early in the run, the race seemed settled. As the best runner in the field on paper, Wilde had been expected to do well on what was a fairly tame course in Sunderland. With the form, the superior run speed and the lead on the road in Wilde’s pocket, the narrative seemingly wrote itself.
Just as they had at the WTCS Final in Abu Dhabi last year, his French rivals, Leo Bergere and Pierre Le Corre, were on hand to upset the odds.
Bergere had enjoyed the best swim of the favourites. Rather than run down the beach, the swim had started in the shallows of the sea. Diego Moya and Chase McQueen emerged at the front of the field after the 750m with Brock Hoel and Márk Dévay close behind. Soon after, Bergere followed, only 5 seconds down.
Wilde, by contrast, was the thirty-second man out of the water and 14 seconds down. While not an irreparable deficit, his position was not quite what he would have hoped.
As the New Zealand athlete settled on the front of the main group, a front group of thirteen men lead by Bergere escaped. By the end of the first of the five bike laps, Wilde’s distance to the leaders stood at 15 seconds. He had Lasse Lührs for company but Bergere was in complete control of the situation at the front.
Tjebbe Kaindl took up pace-setting duties in the lead pack. Kenji Nener took his turn to apply the pressure too. It then came to Ricardo Batista, the brother of the World Junior champion, to power the group onwards.
The chase group slimmed the advantage to 10 seconds. However, with over thirty men in the chase pack, organisation proved hard to come by. Batista and Bergere therefore continued to drive at the front without much danger from behind.
A little dart from Barclay Izzard saw him jump clear to the excitement of the home crowd. Bergere, though, swiftly nipped across to his wheel. Within a few moments, Batista also brought the rest of the lead pack up to Izzard’s wheel.
As the final lap of the bike arrived, the superior numbers of the chase seemed to tell. After all, a bigger pack would find it simple enough to shut down 10 seconds. At the moment the groups merged, Bergere jumped away with Batista and Tayler Reid.
Notwithstanding a little wobble by Reid around a dead turn, the trio pulled clear of the field. By the time they arrived in T2, they had reset the lead to 10 seconds.
Although Batista ran past his shoes, Bergere was rapid in transition and surged into the lead alone.
Wilde lurked at the front of the chase with Dylan McCullough and Valentin Wenz. An equally fast T2 put Wilde at the head of the chase behind Bergere and, within the first minute of the run, Wilde had shut down Bergere’s lead. In his bright pink shoes, he caught and then breezed away from the Frenchman faster than he could say “Hi Barbie!”
Bergere began to slip away as Pierre Le Corre and Sergio Baxter Cabrera loomed behind. For Wilde, the open road and the path to a third win of the 2023 Series awaited.
And then the simplicity melted away.
In contrast to his imperious runs earlier in the year, Wilde did not look as free-flowing as usual. With the midpoint of the run in sight, the momentum of the race shifted and Bergere suddenly began to close the gap.
Le Corre, too, was gaining and moved away from Baxter, who in turn had a penalty to serve.
With a lap to go, both French men were beside Wilde and the race for gold that had looked buried had come back to life. Vasco Vilaca lurked 11 seconds behind but the race had clearly narrowed to the leading three.
Bergere, the world champion, made an early nudge into the lead. It was Le Corre, though, that made the first notable attack. On a slight rise, he darted ahead and Bergere was the first to react.
The French pair had been training together in Font Romeu while Wilde won at WTCS Hamburg and they looked in stellar form. Wilde glued himself to Bergere’s feet like a limpet yet that form of Hamburg had vanished. With the Paris Olympic Test Event on the horizon, it was clear he was deep into training, opting for the unrested approach that paid off at the French Grand Prix in Bordeaux.
Bergere and Le Corre simply looked bouncier. A renowned sprinter, Wilde’s threat remained clear though. If he could maintain contact with Bergere and Le Corre there was hope yet.
Bergere attacked with a kilometre to go and Wilde moved to close gap. However he did not succeed in getting past Le Corre. As the pace settled down, Wilde tried an attack of his own and both French bounded after him.
On the final downhill towards the finish, Wilde’s legs finally gave out and his rivals left him behind.
Bergere had the better line onto the blue carpet and looked to have the lead. Yet Le Corre came storming around the outside to take a stunning victory with a late lunge for the line.
Broken by the late burst, Wilde trotted across the line 15 seconds later to seal 3rd place. He will be back at the Paris Test Event. After their brilliant performances in Sunderland, Le Corre and Bergere will be primed for another big showing and will be incredibly tough to beat.
Vilaca was the next to finish in 4th place and was just ahead of Richard Murray in what was the Dutch athlete’s best showing of the season. Henri Schoeman followed in 6th with Tom Richard close behind. Izzard then claimed 8th to earn a personal best WTCS finish while Antonio Serrat Seoane and Batista rounded out the top-10.
You can view the full results here.
