We just saw it happen with many athletes in the men’s race too, but the problem wasn’t solved before the women’s race: France’s Mathilde Gautier crashed across the finish line as she claimed her victory at the Europe Triathlon Cup in Holten, The Netherlands. Gautier shared the podium with two British athletes: Sophie Alden and Olivia Mathias, who took second and third respectively.
After the swim, a little breakaway group of four – with Gautier, Alden, Mathias, and Australia’s Emma Jeffcoat – found each other on the bike. Dutch Rachel Klamer just missed this group, and was therefor forced to eventually settle in the chase group. Someone who didn’t feel like settling in was the Dutch professional cyclist Quinty Schoens, who broke away on her own and impressively closed the gap to the leading ladies.
On the run, Schoens wasn’t much of a threat to the other four athletes, though. The group of five enjoyed a buffer of approximately one minute to the rest of the field. Gautier was off straight away as she hit the run course, while Alden and Mathias tried to keep up with her and battled for silver. Nobody was going to get in between Gautier and the gold anymore. After 59:12 minutes, she was first across the line. Gautier didn’t get much of a chance to celebrate her victory, though, because she was in severe pain after crashing just before the finish.
Alden ended up taking second only seven seconds later, while Mathias took home the bronze medal (+0:19).
