After already winning Clash Daytona last weekend, Vincent Luis has just won Ironman 70.3 Bahrain. The Frenchman once again showed that he is world-class and ran to a stunning victory.
Immediately it was Luis who came out of the water first: after 23:06 minutes he had completed his swim. The Frenchman then had a small lead over a chasing group with Samuel Dickinson, Maximillian Sperl, Andrea Salvisberg, Alessandro Fabian and Filipe Azevedo, who followed at just under half a minute.
On the bike, as always in Bahrain, the pace was high and Luis was caught by some of his pursuers. In addition to Sperl and Salvisberg, the Swede Gabriel Sandör also joined them, who was still slightly behind during the swim but apparently had particularly good bike legs. In the closing stages Dickinson also rejoined, so that a leading group of five came back at the same time in T2. Azevedo followed in sixth and with a difference of only 24 seconds, while Spaniard Antonio Benito López also had a good connection; he was seventh at 58 seconds.
During the run, however, it was immediately Luis who grabbed the lead again and took off on his own. Salvisberg could keep up the longest, but within a few kilometers the Frenchman was alone in the lead and he would not relinquish it. Behind him it became quite exciting, because some athletes changed positions more than once in the battle for podium.
Luis won the race in a time of 3:38:02. In the end, it was Dickinson who finished second in a time of 3:40:01 and Sperl was third in 3:40:35.
