Yesterday, the reigning world champion Léo Bergere took on Ironman 70.3 Oceanside.
Despite having been waylaid by COVID en route to the United States, Bergere stepped up to take the win. From the off, he controlled the race with the fastest swim then rode with the leaders on the bike. On the run, he then saw off any challengers to get the job done.
The race itself, though, is not the interesting bit.
The intrigue from Bergere’s showing in California lies with his race to defend his world title.
After his rivals Alex Yee and Hayden Wilde won WTCS Abu Dhabi and the New Plymouth World Cup, respectively, each of the leading trio in the men’s field now has a win to his name this year. Of course, Yee’s was the better win on paper given it was against a full WTCS field, although Wilde was hard done by with a puncture that day.
All three, though, have shown early signs of being in top form.
In Yee’s case, his running looked exceptional in Abu Dhabi. Likewise, Wilde’s running and cycling was unstoppable in New Plymouth, albeit against a weaker field.
In Oceanside, Bergere’s strength resided more in the swim and the bike. As such, it highlights how he is a different athlete to Yee and Wilde. We have mentioned the French strategy to control the race via the swim a couple of times. Moreover we have addressed Wilde’s improving swim.
Oceanside, though, gave a small insight into what the Olympic distance WTCS races this year could look like: Bergere (and his compatriots) building a lead over his rivals and taking control of the race from the gun.
More than anything this year, the men’s world title will not be decided by the best raw athlete. It will be won by the athlete that can control the race the best. That means the athlete that can “win” the swim, whether by getting away or keeping with the right group, or marshal the bike to their advantage.
The big takeaway from Oceanside, then, is that Bergere is coming into shape to control races. We saw signs of this in Abu Dhabi when he launched a breakaway attempt on the bike against a full-sized main pack. With his swim looking stronger, having been a little off the pace in Abu Dhabi, he is looking dangerous going into the next round of WTCS races.
In addition, a tantalising factor is that none of the Yee, Wilde and Bergere have yet raced over the Olympic distance. Both Wilde’s and Yee’s wins were over the Sprint distance so it remains to be seen how they step up. Meanwhile racing over the 70.3 distance is not directly relevant for Bergere’s Olympic distance hopes but if nothing else the over-distance would have made for good training.
When Yee and Wilde step up to the Olympic distance, their weakness in the swim will be that little more pronounced (unless either produce a step forward). They both looked exceptionally fast over 5km this year and have proven themselves over the 10km before. However, the run is not the problem for them, it never really has been.
On the other hand, Bergere will be stepping down to his best distance where he will be able to fully exert himself upon the event.
One important question will be how COVID affects Bergere going forwards. It seemed that contracting COVID at the 2022 WTCS Final hampered both Hayden Wilde’s and Beth Potter’s days. While it will not affect any of Bergere’s races at this point, if it prevents him from training in the coming weeks, his decision to race so soon after contracting it might look a little less sensible.
Either way, with WTCS Yokohama six weeks out, we are now seeing the three big contenders assert themselves by stepping onto the tops of podiums. With two Olympic distance races coming up in the Series, Bergere might even be looking like an early favourite, particularly if he can fully utilise the swim and bike skills he displayed yesterday.
