In a race that was fast and fierce from the very first stroke and remained thrilling until the final meters, Michele Sarzilla and Cathia Schär took home victory at Challenge Mallorca – both claiming their first-ever professional wins.
Conditions were close to perfect, yet the course was anything but easy. As is often the case on the island, the bike leg proved decisive: short but brutally steep climbs and hardly a single flat section kept the pressure high. Among the men, a large group stayed together for quite some time until former cyclist Damien Le Mesnager launched a spectacular and devastating attack around the 50-kilometer mark – right on the steepest climb of the day. Within minutes, he opened up a gap of several hundred meters, and from that moment on his lead only grew. ‘It hurts,’ he shouted in the final kilometers – though with a grin that showed he was still enjoying every second.
Le Mesnager began the half marathon with a comfortable margin of more than two minutes – a significant advantage on Mallorca’s tough run course – and managed to hold on for quite a while. But Short Distance specialist Michele Sarzilla was on the hunt. Lap after lap, he chipped away at the deficit, cutting it down to 50 seconds halfway through and just 10 seconds with five kilometers to go. With one final surge, Sarzilla passed Le Mesnager and stormed to victory in 3:39:24. The Frenchman held on for second just 13 seconds later, while Britain’s James Teagle completed the podium in 3:41:36.
Text continues below pictureThe women’s race had its own share of drama. European Long Distance Champion Daisy Davies and Ironman 70.3 European Champion Lena Meissner exited the water together and initially dictated the race. But it was debutant Cathia Schär – remarkably tackling her very first Middle Distance – who soon bridged up to the leaders. The trio stayed together throughout the bike leg, setting up an open fight for the run.
Once on her feet, Schär wasted no time showcasing her short-course speed. She quickly established a small gap that grew steadily with every lap. By the halfway point, her lead had extended to half a minute and continued to widen until the finish. Schär took a dominant win in 4:09:09, followed by Meissner in 4:12:20 and Davies in 4:13:08.
A pair of debut professional victories for Sarzilla and Schär – both earned the hard way – made Challenge Mallorca a race to remember.