It was a particularly unpleasant experience for Cameron Wurf when he was overtaken by his compatriot Nick Kastelein in the very last kilometers of Ironman Vitoria. Wurf had been on the attack all day, and was inimitable on the bike in particular, but had to give up the victory in the final phase to a very strong running Kastelein.
Kastelein was already the fastest swimmer of the day, when he was allowed to go to T1 after 47:47 and had three men at his feet. Wurf followed at a little over two minutes and outside the top ten, but on the bike the Australian immediately got up to speed and moved to the front. After only twenty kilometers he joined the front and not much later he rode away from everyone. From that moment on it became a one man show, because when Wurf entered T2 after 180 kilometers, his lead had increased to almost ten minutes. It was a big group that came in T2 behind Wurf, but that group was looking at a big gap.
Kastelein was outside the top ten at that point and was more than thirteen minutes behind. Yet that did not stop him from keeping his cool and running a very strong marathon. Slowly but surely Kastelein made up time and gained positions, until after 31 kilometers he was already in third position and only 1:43 minute behind. In the kilometers that followed Kastelein did not let the pace drop and soon managed to catch up with Wurf. With four kilometers to go, he took over the lead and eventually ran in 7:52:50 to victory. Wurf followed only 38 seconds later as second. German Dominik Sowieja finished third, +1:30 behind Kastelein.
