The second European Cup of the season took place in the Spanish enclave of Melilla at the weekend and the event saw a pair of quick-fire races that were settled with decisive late breaks on the run.
Women’s race
The lingering effects of the cancellation of WTCS Abu Dhabi were also on show at the Sprint distance race as WTCS medallists were on hand to start their seasons. Each of Emma Lombardi, Sophie Coldwell and Kate Waugh won medals in the 2023 Series and were looking to launch their 2024 campaigns.
It was Coldwell that led the non-wetsuit sea swim, covering the 750m in a time of 9:26. Her compatriot, Sophia Green followed 4 seconds back. Mathilde Gautier was the next woman out, a further 3 seconds behind. Lombardi and Waugh then emerged together with the three athletes ahead in their sights. Lombardi had the best T1 of the leaders and put herself into the lead alongside Coldwell.
Prior to the race, Waugh had a brief scare of her bike not arriving in Melilla. In the end, it arrived in time for the pre-race familiarization and she used the opening section to ride up to the leaders. At the other end of the front group, Bianca Seregni and Cecilia Santamaria Surroca had been with the leaders out of the water, however both slipped behind on the bike. As a result, a lead pack of five – Lombardi, Coldwell, Gautier, Waugh and Green – surged ahead, giving the race somewhat of an Anglo-French complexion.
Gautier and Waugh would go on to share the fastest bike split of the day (26:44) and, by the end of the 20km, the front five would lead the chasers by well over a minute.
Green and Gautier lost touch with the WTCS medallists over the 5km run. They nonetheless managed to consolidate their respective positions inside the top-5.
Further ahead, the trio of WTCS medallists looked to settle the win, as expected. Perhaps the quickest runner over 5km on paper, Lombardi was the strongest on the day and ran clear to take the victory. Her split of 16:38 was the best of the women’s race.
Waugh then out-ran her fellow Brit Coldwell to seal the silver medal. Coldwell rounded out the podium in 3rd place
Men’s race
A pair of French youngsters found themselves at the front of the men’s race out of the water. Gaspard Tharreau and Pablo Isotton, both in their first years out of the Junior ranks, clocked 8:53 to emerge as part of the lead group.
Although Isotton lost ground on the bike, Tharreau remained with the leaders. The winner of the French Junior tests in 2023 was part of a front pack that initially contained over a dozen other men.
After Waugh and Coldwell medalled in the women’s race, Cameron Main made put himself in the lead pack to push for another British medal. So too did Hamish Reilly, the 2023 World U23 Championships bronze medallist. At the same time, the two Brits faced several noteworthy rivals in the pack.
Arnaud Mengal, a World Cup medallist, and Antoine Duval, winner of the Ceuta European Cup in 2023, drove the pace. Alongside Tharreau, another youngster rode hard in the lead group. Pelayo González Turrez won the European Junior Cup in Melilla last year and was looking to add a Senior medal to his collection. Moreover, he was joined by Vicente Hernandez. The former Olympian was starting in his third Continental Cup back after an absence of over four years since racing at WTCS Montreal in 2019.
As the bike unfolded, though, Adrien Briffod came unstuck in a crash, taking one pre-race favourite out of contention.
With little to separate the field on the bike, the crucial part of the race was found on the run. The lead bunch remained fairly tight in the early parts of the 5km run. Guillaume Hay and Louis Vitiello lingered threateningly on the edges of the pack; both had raced well in Melilla in 2023. Main, Duval, Hernandez and Mengal were also right at the front and ready to strike.
A couple of kilometres of shadow-boxing followed. Then Main struck.
The British athlete moved clear to claim his first international win and complete the full set of medals for the British squad. Duval crossed 7 seconds later to take 2nd place while Hernandez earned the first international medal of his comeback as he crossed 2 seconds later in 3rd place.
View the full results here.
