Seppe Odeyn came 6th at the EC long distance duathlon at Vejle, Denmark. A week after Ironman Texas he was part of a lead group of seven. Soren Bystrup broke free and stormed for the title. "In the second run I felt the damage done by Texas," says Seppe.
"In the first run I had to let the fast runners go," Seppe explains. "On the bike the lead group formed and nobody managed to break away, until Soren Bystrup attacked. I stuck with the pack and was joined by Dutch Daan De Groot. The latter tried to attack and managed to make connection with Bystrup. But it the run he was no match for the Dane. I did not have the legs to make the difference in the second run and am thus happy with the 6th place. Not the best idea so far, one week after IM Texas," says our vice-World Champion. Jan Petralia was the second Belgian pro, but felt the damage from his crash last year and did not finish.
Soren Bystrup won in 2hr43'05. Felix Kohler managed to close the gap on the run, but came second 10 seconds later. Danish Simon Jorn Hansen came third. The Dutch Daan De Groot came fifth and Seppe sixth.
The female race was lead by a strong Dutch. Marina Van Dijk had a small gap to bridge after the first run, but a strong bike leg brought her back among the competitors. The last run left her with bronze, Austrian Sandrina Iles took the win in 3hr003'24, followed by Swiss Melanie Maurer and Marina Van Dijk.
Belgian AG
In the AG ranking we saw neat Belgian performances as well. Wim De Coene took the M40 win, Koen Lintermans M35 silver, Bert Wouters came 5th in the same category. Jonas Vandevyvere came fourth in M25. Chris Bessemans fourth M30, Jan Cappaert 6th M55.
Dutch performances were notable as well. Daan Schouten took the M20 win and Elly Visser did the same in the F60.
Original article on 3athlon.be by Hans Cleemput on 06/05/2018
Translation by @T0v3