France’s Cassandre Beaugrand has just won the Europe Triathlon Cup in Quarteira, Portugal. In doing so, she gloriously lived up to her rol as a favorite for the win. Norwegian Thorn Vetle Bergsvik also won the race, but in doing so he was a big surprise to many.
In the men’s race it was Jonathan Brownlee who was seen as the biggest favorite beforehand. The men’s race was particularly exciting, as a large leading group ran together to the finish. However, after 1500 meters of swimming, 40 kilometers of biking and 10 kilometers of running, no one, including Brownlee, could stand up to Vetle Bergsvik’s final acceleration. He eventually won the race in 1:46:36. Two seconds later, Swiss Fabian Meeusen finished second and another three seconds later, Portuguese Joao Pereira finished third. Brownlee eventually finished seventh: twenty seconds after the winner, Brownlee crossed the finish line.
In the women’s race we saw a completely different race development, as there it was clear fairly early on during the run that Beaugrand would win. She dominated the running and gave her competitors no chance to catch on. Beaugrand won the Europe Triathlon Cup in a time of 1:56:29. Her compatriot Audrey Merle was second in 1:57:18 and Luxembourg’s Jeanne Lehair was third in 1:57:36.
