Three weeks ago he suffered a puncture during the WTCS Abu Dhabi and as a result fought a lonely – and hopeless – battle in the backfield, but Hayden Wilde has since washed away the huge disappointment and disillusionment of that day. Today he became the winner of the World Triathlon Cup New Plymouth in a very impressive way.
For sure there was plenty to enjoy during the race, especially from Wilde that is, because even though he was slightly behind after the swim, a leading group emerged during the bike and eventually the leading group started the run together. There Wilde’s ambitions were immediately clear: he went full speed ahead to eventually dive under fifteen minutes in the final five kilometers.
It earned Wilde a finish time of 55:57 minutes, well ahead of Tayler Reid, who finished second in 56:32. That was another exciting battle by the way, as Ricardo Batista finished third in exactly the same time: 56:32. Just two seconds behind, Dylan McCullough fell just short of the podium.
In the women’s race Nicole van der Kaay took the win, finishing in 1:02:57, nine seconds ahead of Ainsley Thorpe. Solvei Lovseth finished third, seventeen seconds behind the winner.
