WTCS Sunderland turned out to be little more than a leisurely day by the seaside for Cassandre Beaugrand.
Although Therese Feuersinger took control of the swim and led the field into T1, it was Beaugrand that led the way out of transition. Feuersinger clamped onto the French woman’s wheel and the pair set about building a small lead.
A pack of five women had formed behind, containing Olivia Mathias, Annika Koch, Emma Lombardi, Lizeth Rueda Santos and Vittoria Lopes. By the end of the first lap, they had bridged to Beaugrand and Feuersinger and held a handsome 19 second lead over the chase pack.
Over the next few laps, the lead fluctuated around the 15 second mark. Julie Derron picked up plenty of the workload in the chase group as the gap ebbed and flowed and, with the chase pack comprising twenty-four women, the leaders had their work cut out to stay clear.
Beaugrand’s confidence on the bike has grown this season and she has increasingly become a presence at the front of packs on the bike. Sunderland was no different as she frequently popped up at the front of the lead group to set the pace. In Lombardi, she also had an ally with whom she could share the workload.
Gradually, though, the power of the chase group began to tell as the likes of Lotte Miller, Solveig Løvseth, Yuko Takahashi and Anabel Knoll helped Derron to cut the deficit.
With a lap to go the two packs came back together, much to the dismay of those stranded in the third and fourth groups.
For Beaugrand, though, the joining of the groups proved no real issue and she slotted into the middle of the pack. Koch made sure to stay near the front, as did Lombardi as the final lap was completed without issue. Mathias then led Lombardi and Derron into T2 but Lombardi was the best through transition.
With the smoothest changeover of the field, the young French woman gained 3 seconds.
Her advantage was soon scrubbed away as Beaugrand eased alongside in the opening kilometre of the run. Koch was the next woman on the road and battled to make contact with the leaders yet could not quite find that extra gear to do so.
In a small group behind Koch, Derron led Marlene Gomez-Göggel and Rachel Klamer. None of them, though, had the requisite speed to threaten the leaders.
The two French athletes cruised at the front of the race and looked set to repeat the gold and silver medals won by their compatriots in the men’s event.
Even with Lombardi on her shoulder, Beaugrand did not look fazed for a moment on the run. On the final lap, she generated a small gap on the slight uphill section and a 2 second advantage soon became 10 seconds. From there, the remainder of the race was a procession.
Beaugrand was simply a class apart and sauntered to a second straight WTCS victory. After the ease of her win in Hamburg earlier in July, her triumph in Sunderland somehow seemed even more relaxed.
Lombardi crossed the finish line 18 seconds later to take the second silver medal of her WTCS season. Shortly after, Koch finished to seal a maiden WTCS medal in 3rd place.
A late charge from Leonie Periault saw her rise through the field and earn 4th place. Koch, though, was a bridge too far and the French team were therefore denied a sweep of the podium.
Gomez-Göggel followed in 5th place, matching her personal best finish from WTCS Hamburg. In her best performance of the Series this year, Klamer then beat Derron to 6th place.
Nicole Van Der Kaay crossed in 8th while Cathia Schär and Melanie Santos rounded out the top-10.
Throughout the top-10, there were a number of impressive showings yet no one was able to land a blow against the winner. In the end Beaugrand was the only athlete to break an hour with her finishing time of 59:53 and in many ways that summed up her race.
She was playing to a different time, at a different level, to her rivals. For everyone else, WTCS Sunderland was a race. For Beaugrand, it just another day at the beach.
You can view the full results here.
