He was perhaps the biggest surprise last year when he won the Ironman 70.3 European Championships, but today Greek Panagiotis Bitados once again shows he is world-class by winning Ironman 70.3 Venice-Jesolo, marking his first IM Pro Series race victory.
During the swim, it was Germans Jonas Schomburg and Jannik Schaufler who dictated the pace, with Simon Westermann, Samuel Dickinson, Cameron Main, Alessandro Fabian and Rico Bogen, among others, shortly behind. On the bike, however, it was pretty soon Bogen who turned on his engines and managed to grab a sizeable lead over the rest of the field. Once back in T2, he was almost four minutes ahead of a chasing group of as many as fourteen men. That group included Jan Stratmann, Dickinson, Westermannm Emil Holm, Schomburg and also Bitados.
Bitados went in full pursuit during the half marathon, but it was Brit Main who managed to run very strongly with him. Halfway through the 21.1km, both men were less than a minute and a half behind Bogen, who proved no match for the high running pace of his pursuers. A few kilometers later, Bitados passed him already and a few seconds later it was Main who also moved up a place to run second.
The battle between Bitados and Main proved to be a very exciting one and was eventually decided by a few seconds. Holm eventually finished third, two minutes behind winner Bitados.
*Finish times aren’t known at the time of writing, as Ironman faced struggles with their live timing and Bitados wasn’t shown in the results.
**Finish times added to the timing app now:
-Bitados: 3:31:01
-Main: 3:31:07
-Holm: 3:32:47
