Patrick Lange, Sam Laidlow, Florian Angert, Aaron Royle, Pablo Dapena Gonzalez, Youri Keulen, Evert Scheltinga, Jan Stratmann, Ruben Zepuntke, Andreas Dreitz, Ruth Astle, Svenja Thoes, Diede Diederiks, India Lee, Alexandra Tondeur, Elisabetta Curridori, Kate Curran, Charlene Clavel, Margie Santimaria, Camille Deligny, Lina-Kristin Schink: one world-class professional athlete after another is signing up for Anfi Challenge Mogán-Gran Canaria, to kick off the European season with an unprecedented level of racing at 22 April.
In the men’s field, most eyes will be on Sam Laidlow. The young Frenchman’s star is rising fast, he is considered one of the most popular athletes of the moment and returns to Anfi Challenge Mogán-Gran Canaria for some ‘unfinished business’ (https://www.challenge-family.com/news/sam-laidlow-comes-to-anfi-challenge-mogan-gran-canaria-for-unfinished-business/). Two years ago, he crashed during the bike and now he wants to reverse that disappointment with a victory.
The list of competitors shows it won’t be an easy task for Laidlow. Patrick Lange kicks off his season and the German former world champion wants nothing less than the win, wherever he starts. His compatriot, Florian Angert, is a solid factor every year, always racing strongly from the front and in Gran Canaria he too will aim for nothing less than the win. Brit Aaron Royale will certainly be in the mix as will local favourite Pablo Dapena Gonzalez who also has the home country advantage.
In addition, there are several outsiders, albeit world-class outsiders, who will make the race interesting. The young Dutchman, Youri Keulen, experienced his breakthrough in the international field last year and also sees his compatriot Evert Scheltinga, the fastest Dutchman over the Long Distance, travel to Gran Canaria. Germans Jan Stratmann, Ruben Zepuntke and Andreas Dreitz have all shown themselves capable of world-class performances with Dreitz the most-experienced athlete of these three German heroes. And not forgetting Jonathan Wayaffe of Belgium who closed out his 2022 season with a career-best win at Challenge Peguera-Mallorca in October.
An exciting battle will also unfold in the women’s race, although there is a more outspoken favourite here: Ruth Astle. The Brit will go all-in for the win, but at the same time will see Diede Diederiks, Alexandra Tondeur, Svenja Thoes, India Lee and Elisabetta Curridori do the same. The women will make it as difficult as possible for each other in the battle for the win at Anfi Challenge Mogán-Gran Canaria. The same goes for Kate Curran, Charlene Clavel, Margie Santimaria, Camille Deligny and Lina-Kristin Schink: even if they are not seen as the biggest favourites, they are all women with the necessary experience at the highest level of triathlon and they know exactly what it takes to win this calibre of race.
