Claire Michel provided the best Belgian performance this Friday during the World Triathlon Series at Abu Dhabi, coming in 20th. Contrary to the men's race, the Marina F1-circuit was mostly dry, but the tunnel at the beginning of the circuit remained slippery, causing a crash and DNF for leader Flora Duffy and other favorite Katy Zafares. Hence, victory went suprisingly to Dutch Rachel Klamer.
Duffy seemed to be on for another trademark solo. She exited the water in the wake of Jessica Learmonth in second position. Maya Kingma was 10th in 10 seconds, two spots later Rachel Klamer followed. Maaike Caelers and Kirsten Nuyes exited 37th and 38th, followed by Claire Michel.
Duffy falls in tunnel
On the bike it only took one lap for disaster to strike Duffy. The reigning World Champion apparently did not learn from the men's race and crashed on the same spot as Fabian. Besides the tunnel, the course was dryer than this morning, but nevertheless very technical. Maya Kingma followed in the first chase pack. Caelers, Nuyes and Michel were solo and lost a lot of time on the bike.
At the entry of the 4th lap Joanna Brown crashed on the same spot as Duffy. Klamer was two places behind her, but managed to avoid collision. Due to this manoeuvre she lost connection to the lead pack and usurped a lot of strength to regroup at the entry of the final lap.
A final lap marked by another crash, this time it was Katy Zafares who quit the race. Maaike Caelers did not finish as well.
Klamer wins first WTS
The lead pack was reduced to six. Klamer had a swift transition and went off along with American Kasper and Australian Van Coevorden. Jessica Learmonth joined the group and the four of them went in the last 4km. Kingma left transition in 21st, Nuyes 24th. Claire Michel was 30th after transition, but started rolling up the competition one by one. A chase leading her to 20th place in an incident ridden race.
At the entry of the last km Learmonth and Klamer surges. Klamer managed to gap the British and ran to her first ever WTS victory. Jessica Learmonth came second, Natalie Van Coevorden third.
Kirsten Nuyes, Dutch-Belgian triathlete by Cecemel-Sportoase Team came 28th, Maya Kingma 32nd.
Original article on 3athlon.be by Hans Cleemput on 02/03/2018
Translation by @T0v3