Georgia Taylor-Brown saw off Olympic champion Cassandre Beaugrand in a Crown Racing one-two at supertri Chicago on Sunday.
The Brit has had a challenging 12 months due to a calf injury but has roared back to form recently – she was sixth at the Olympics, second last week in the supertri opener in Boston and carried on the good work here.
“I’d forgotten what it was like to lift the tape,” she said afterwards in what was the fourth Super League / supertri win of her career. Beaugrand had to settle for silver this time, with Taylor Spivey (Stars & Stripes) in third on home soil.
Stage 1
It was already 31 degrees (and 23.5 in the water) when the race got under way at 12:41 local time.
The wind was up too and there was a definite chop on the water for the 300 metres in Lake Michigan, the first of nine legs.
Vittória Lopes, as she often does, led it out for Podium Racing and looked set to earn the first short chute again.
But Kirsten Kasper, who had such a difficult time at the Paris Olympics on the slippery cobbles, outdid her in T1 to grab it for Stars & Stripes.
Most of the main contenders were in close proximity, with just 15 seconds between the top 10, but the big loser at this point was Léonie Périault who was surprisingly well back at around 30 seconds, which would go out to 46 seconds after a lonely race at the back of the bike.
Olympic champion Beaugrand, Taylor-Brown, Beth Potter and Kate Waugh were all prominent on the bike as things started to string out. But the second short chute went to Brownlee Racing – with Liv Mathias just ahead of teammate Jess Fullagar. And now there were only 15 seconds between the top 15.
On the run it was Beaugrand, not a factor a week before in Boston, who showed her class as she moved clear of the rest. She bagged the third short chute for Crown Racing, three seconds ahead of last week’s winner Jeanne Lehair – who was just a second in front of Taylor-Brown, with a similar margin back to Potter in fourth. And that quartet had gapped the rest.
Stage 2
Beaugrand continued to lead out the second swim and was first out of the water but she lost valuable seconds at transition finding her bike, which meant it was Taylor-Brown out first with Lehair just behind.
Kasper had moved back into contention in fourth and Spivey was now fifth as things started to close up, meaning we suddenly had a front group of nine. The other four in the mix at this point were Potter, Mathias, Fullagar and youngster Fanni Szalai and they had 10 seconds and more on the rest.
Moving out onto the second run and it was Mathias who led out the front group – there were just five seconds between them and 10 seconds back to Alice Betto, who was all by herself in 10th.
So the focus was temporarily on who would get the short chutes – and the calls were Beaugrand for Crown Racing, Mathias for Brownlee Racing and Spivey for Stars & Stripes. Mathias rather than Potter raising a few eyebrows, though she had won the short chute.
Game on for what was now a leading eight as Fullagar lost touch before Stage 3.
Stage 3
The brutal nature of this format – and it’s being used for all of this year’s supertri races – was underlined as athletes at the back started to be eliminated, including Périault and Katie Zaferes.
But up front eight became nine as Fullagar regained touch in the water. Potter had been first in, but by the time they exited it was her teammate Mathias who was first out, with Spivey just behind, GTB in third and Potter fourth.
Spivey was the one to make a move early on the bike but she was isolated in terms of fellow Stars & Stripes riders. But four did move away – with Fullagar joining Spivey, Mathias and GTB as Potter lost touch.
They opened up a gap on the rest and there was huge incentive for Spivey and Mathias in particular as they both had a short chute to come.
In the chase group it was Beaugrand trying to drive it and remember she still had a short chute to come.
The lead quartet started the last 1.6km run with an advantage of 10 seconds on the rest, with Spivey and Mathias leading it after taking their short chutes – but could Beaugrand get back in touch? The answer was yes and things were changing rapidly. For it was suddenly Taylor-Brown in front and looking locked in on the win.
Beaugrand had overtaken Spivey and co by this point but GTB wasn’t going to be caught as she powered to her first victory of 2024.
Meanwhile in the men’s race it was Hayden Wilde who exacted a measure of revenge over Olympic champ Alex Yee – read all about that here.
supertri Chicago results
Sunday 25 August 2024 – Enduro – Elite Women
- 1. Georgia Taylor-Brown 57:35
- 2. Cassandre Beaugrand +6s
- 3. Taylor Spivey +12s
- 4. Olivia Mathias +19s
- 5. Jeanne Lehair +28s
Updated team standings
- 1. Podium Racing – 165pts
- 2. Crown Racing – 160pts
- 3. Brownlee Racing – 130pts
- 4. Stars & Stripes – 109pts
Updated individual standings
