Olympic silver medalist Alex Yee took his first WTCS win of the season with a thrilling sprint finish in Cagliari, as the British star beat Hayden Wilde in a nailbitting run battle in Sardinia.
The pair, who are heavy favourites for the gold medal in Paris this summer, were in a different class to the rest of the field on the run and went toe-to-toe until the blue carpet in an incredible display of strength.
Rounding out the podium in third was Hungarian Csongor Lehmann, a former junior and U23 World Champion who picked up a maiden WTCS podium after making a brave break from the rest of the field at the start of the run.
Swim – Crociani leads the way
After a 30 minute delay due to the weather, the men’s race got underway with a non-wetsuit swim in Cagliari, with the choppy conditions making for a tough 1500m effort at Poetto Beach.
Through the first lap, Max Stapley of Great Britain led the way, with all the major players, including WTCS Yokohama winner Morgan Pearson, nearby. At this point, Yee and Wilde were both within 20 seconds of the front.
Over the second lap, despite the conditions, a big group managed to stay together, and led out by home favourite Alessio Crociani, almost 30 men came into transition within +0:20 of the leaders.
In addition to Yee and Wilde, French trio Vincent Luis, Leo Bergere and Pierre Le Corre were up there, with Olympic champion Kristian Blummenfelt also making the front pack. Additionally, Brits Hugo Milner and Samuel Dickinson made the break as well.
Bike – Contenders dropped but favourites keep in touch
After Spain’s Alberto Gonzalez Garcia was reeled in following a quick transition, the lead pack regrouped over the first lap before getting to work, with the 25 or so men up front testing themselves and each other on the flat and fast course.
Henri Schoeman and Simon Westermann were amongst the first to lose contact, before shockingly Pearson was dropped just before the halfway mark, as the stronger cyclists looked to neutralize the best runners in their ranks.
Bleeding time, the chase pack were well over a minute down through the halfway mark of the bike, as the 18-strong group up front continued to build and build their lead.
Blummenfelt, losing two minutes, dropped back after a wheel change, in a major blow to his Olympic preparations. The Tokyo champion, 10th in Yokohama, will face a race against time to find his winning edge before Paris.
Off the bike, Yee and Wilde were side-by-side in transition, with French trio Bergere, Luis and Le Corre, plus Britain’s Dickinson, together out on to the run. Almost two minutes down, the chase pack rolled in, with the likes of Pearson and Milner too far back by now to play a part in battle up front.
Run – Yee makes it two from two
As expected, Yee and Wilde went straight to the front of the race, just like they did here last season, and never looked back.
Gapping the rest of the field, the pair had more than half a minute over everyone else through the 5km mark, and locked side-by-side, appeared inseparable as they raced through the streets of Sardinia.
Back in the battle for third, Hungarian Csongor Lehmann had a 8 second gap over the likes of Le Corre, Charles Paquet of Canada and Portugal’s Ricardo Batista, but all eyes were on the showdown at the front of the race.
Having tried his best to shake off Yee over the second half of the run, Wilde was once again outmanoeuvred by his rival in Cagliari.
On to the blue carpet, the Brit proved to have more in the tank, as he sprinted to a third successive victory in Italy, having also taken down Wilde in similar fashion here 12 months ago.
Wilde, a handful of seconds down, raced valiantly but couldn’t quite match Yee over the final 200m. In third, Lehmann held on bravely ahead of Vetle Thorn, Batista and Le Corre, who secured his spot on the French Olympic team with a Top 6 performance.
WTCS Cagliari – Saturday May 25 2024
1500m / 40km / 10km
Elite Men
- 1. Alex Yee (GBR) – 1:39:44 [18:42/50:59/29:12]
- 2. Hayden Wilde (NZL) – 1:39:46 [18:43/50:58/29:13]
- 3. Csongor Lehmann (HUN) – 1:40:27 [18:35/51:08/29:55]
- 4. Vetle Bergsvik Thorn (NOR) – 1:40:36 [18:38/51:04/29:59]
- 5. Ricardo Batista (POR) – 1:40:37 [18:46/50:57/30:02]
- 6. Pierre Le Corre (FRA) – 1:40:39 [18:31/51:10/30:00]
- 7. Charles Paquet (CAN) – 1:40:43 [18:43/50:59/30:02]
- 8. Luke Willian (AUS) – 1:40:50 [18:52/50:53/30:13]
- 9. Vincent Luis (FRA) – 1:40:57 [18:36/51:06/30:22]
- 10. Jonas Schomburg (GER) – 1:41:07 [18:33/51:07/30:29]
