Fitri

Rui Dolores from Portugal and Eleonora Peroncini from Italy captured the sixth annual XTERRA Portugal off-road triathlon elite titles with winning times of 2:44:52 and 3:17:14 respectively, on Saturday 01 June 2019, in Golega.

For Rui Dolores, it's his second XTERRA win this season following victory last month in Malta. For Elenora Peroncini this is her first ever XTERRA win following a stellar start to the season with podiums in Cyprus and Italy, Lake Garda and the win at the ITU World Championships.

In the men’s race, the two loop non-wetsuit swim in the famous Golega Pond saw a group of three athletes exit the water together, led by Portuguese elite athlete Rafael Domingos with age group athletes François Vie from France and Alejandro Villar from Spain. Reaching T1 50 seconds later were Portuguese athletes Tiago Maia and pre-race favorite Rui Dolores along with Peter Lehmann.

By the halfway point on the bike, Dolores had ridden his way to the front of the race with only Domingos for company as the pair pushed the pace on the technical rocky trails. The third athlete on course was Age grouper Vie aged just 17years old, he was riding well but had lost 2min and 30secs to the front pair. Richard Costa from Spain was in fourth place, followed around 30 seconds later by Maia. Pre-race favourite Lehmann was struggling in the hot condition and had dropped to seventh.    

During the second half of the bike, Dolores pushed on and entered transition with a 4minute lead over Domingos. A further five minutes later a group containing Lehmann, Maia and the new AG leader Octavio Vincente entered transition to contest the final places on the podium.

As the strongest runner in the race, Dolores could look forward to what was essentially a victory lap as he went unchallenged to win XTERRA Portugal 2019 and the National Portuguese Cross Triathlon Title. Domingos held steady on the run course, the young Portuguese put together a solid swim/bike/run performance in his first ever XTERRA, only bettered by the European Tour leader.

The surprise of the day went to age group athlete Vincente, who was able to cope with the heat and outrun the two elites Maia and Lehmann. Maia would finish fourth, whilst Spaniard Aleix Sierra Oliver ran through Lehmann for fifth place.

In the women's race Brigitta Poor was the first out of the water, it was good to see our strongest European athlete from 2018 back at the front of a race again. Pauline Vie would exit second but over two minutes back of the 2018 XTERRA European champion, ten seconds later Peroncini would follow, with Eva Garcia conceding a further 50 seconds to the ITU World Champ.

"I started the race feeling good and everything went well until the half way of the bike," said Poor. "The heat played a big role in my performance and during the run I just didn't had the power to keep pushing hard. I am not 100% mentally ready to perform at the highest level." 

Poor would maintain her lead during the first half of the bike, the flatter part of the loop allowing her to use her power to keep Peroncini at bay for the time being. Vie was riding well in third but was losing time to a fast chasing Garcia.   

At the halfway point on the bike, Peroncini made her move just before a tough single-track climb and took the lead from Poor. Five minutes later Vie was still in third but Garcia was now only seconds behind.

Peroncini would enter T2 with a three minutes and 40 seconds lead over Garcia who had ridden herself into second place, overtaking Poor and Vie during the closing part of the bike section. Poor would enter next just 30 seconds back from Garcia, Vie would enter transition a further 90 seconds back from Poor.   

"This race was so beautiful but so hard because of the weather conditions," said Peroncini. "It was a good day for me and I am really happy for my first XTERRA title." 

Despite her monumental mountain bike effort, the ITU world champion was still full of running and would extend her lead to win her first ever XTERRA title. Eva Garcia would run strongly to take a deserved second place. The Spaniard was third in 2018, so proving that she is in great shape and still progressing.

"I’m very happy to race well in such a hard race and hard conditions," said Garcia.  "It was really hot during the bike and run so I’m happy to finish, let alone with a podium!"

Peroncini would enter T2 with a three minutes and 40 seconds lead over Garcia who had ridden herself into second place, overtaking Poor and Vie during the closing part of the bike section. Poor would enter next just 30 seconds back from Garcia, Vie would enter transition a further 90 seconds back from Poor.   

"This race was so beautiful but so hard because of the weather conditions," said Peroncini. "It was a good day for me and I am really happy for my first XTERRA title." 

Despite her monumental mountain bike effort, the ITU world champion was still full of running and would extend her lead to win her first ever XTERRA title. Eva Garcia would run strongly to take a deserved second place. The Spaniard was third in 2018, so proving that she is in great shape and still progressing.

"I’m very happy to race well in such a hard race and hard conditions," said Garcia.  "It was really hot during the bike and run so I’m happy to finish, let alone with a podium!"

fonte: XTERRA Planet