Obviously under a neutral flag, Russian Diana Isakova just won the World Triathlon Cup Samarkand. The not overly strong race was decided during the run.
On the bike, it was still the Frenchwoman Mathilde Gautier who went on the attack and single-handedly managed to ride away from a large chasing group. In T2, her lead had increased to nearly half a minute over a group of more than 20 women, but then there were still ten kilometers to run while facing high temperatures.
During that run, Isakova actually ran quickly to the front, although she initially still got some women with her. Yet those also had to drop off one by one, eventually allowing Isakova to run solo toward the finish line.
Isakova won the race in a time of 1:59:54 and was also the only lady to stay under the two-hour mark. France’s Lea Coninx was second in 2:00:24 and Italy’s Costanza Arpinelli was third in 2:00:26.
