After silver in Samarkand and then again at the European Championships last month, Frenchman Yanis Seguin was not to be denied on Saturday afternoon as he took the tape in Rome for a stylish debut World Cup win.
In a sprint-distance race that saw eight athletes unable to finish in tough conditions, it all came down to a shootout between Seguin and Luke Willian, the Australian currently standing fifth in the World Championship chase. Just as it looked like the Australian had found the edge, it was Seguin who discovered the decisive depths of power to dig into, clocking a 14m23s time over the 5km to take the tape by three seconds, compatriot Baptiste Passemard pulling clear late on to earn bronze.
“It was a wonderful race for me,” said a smiling Seguin afterwards. “It was a bit dangerous because of the rain, but it was cool to do a race like this, in which we needed to take some risks. I was a bit behind to catch the first pack but we did a good job to close the gap and then tried to do some relays to push as hard as we could. For the run it was very hard, especially the first kilometre, but at the end of the second lap I just pushed really hard on the downhill and tried to keep the momentum until the end.”
Hobor and Dey dial the swim
With the top-ranked athletes all lining up to the right for the non-wetsuit swim, it was the young Hungarian Zalan Hobor and GB’s Marcus Dey searing through the middle of the field to take to the front, cruising around the diamond-shape course to emerge from the 750m first segment with daylight behind them.
The young Italian talent Pietro Giovannini was right there too, Tayler Reid (NZL), Kayotaro Yoshikawa (JPN), Mitch Kolkman (NED) and Valentin Morlec (FRA) all looking to close up a small gap ahead over the awkward 250m run to transition.
Adrien Briffod and Aurelien Jem stumbled with their bikes and lost a little ground on the likes of Henry Graf (GER) and Willian as they caught onto the front riders.
Bike packs shuffle as riders drop
The earlier rain had left the surface slippery and Kolkman was the first victim, setting his race back and dropping into the last pack after just one lap. The front riders were well spread out, too, as they took extra caution on the corners, Spaniard Kevin Vinuela off the back off the group.
It was a manageable 17 seconds to the Adrien Briffod-driven chasers after two laps, but the Swiss saw his race end with a second crash as he climbed for the fourth lap, so at the bell there were 17 athletes following Graf through transition, Paul Georgenthum (FRA) with Callum McClusky (AUS) at the front of chasers looking to keep the gap under 30s.
It was Graf and another young Italian Euan Denigro who rolled the dice over the closing stages of the bike and carved out a useful 10 second advantage, only for the home favourite to lose time as he struggled into his shoes, leaving Graf all alone up top, Passemard, Hobor and Reid all out with 10s to make up on the young german star.
Series contender and Seguin into battle
Willian was then straight onto the gas and into second, slowly reeling in Graf as Simon Westermann became the first of the leaders to fade.
And at the bell it was Willian asking all the questions, looking comfortable up front with Reid, Seguin and Graf holding on.
Then, just as they came back along the lake and towards the climb through the park, Seguin made one final burst that Willian just couldn’t cover. Up the hill the gap went out and with a glance back, Seguin knew his first gold was safe. Willian held on to secure silver ahead of Passemard, Graf with an excellent fourth ahead of Reid, Spain’s Genis Grau crossing the line ahead of Westermann.
What they said
Luke Willian
“Yanis was very impressive today. He came past with 1500 meters to go and I just couldn’t pass him. The rain had an impact, I tried to stay warm and safe, and then the sun came out and it felt better. It is good to head to the Championship Finals in this form. I’m happy with my race today, now time to recover!”
Baptiste Passemard
“It’s my first World Cup podium and I am very happy. It was really fun today. I took the lead after the third lap of the run, but then Luke Willian pushed, and Yanis, and I just stayed focus on my pace so that I could finish in a good position.”
