American Morgan Pearson just grabbed an amazing victory at the WTCS Yokohama. In a beautiful race, full of excitement and drama, he pulled off the victory thanks to a stunning run. Reigning Olympic Champion Kristian Blummenfelt was able to keep up for a long time, but came up short during the run and finished tenth.
Anyway, it was a race to enjoy: already on the bike a lot happened and even though there was a big breakaway of fifty men – so almost all athletes together – everyone had to be alert not to get involved in one of the many crashes. Even in the last bike lap things still went wrong with a crash in which several men hit the ground and of which Portuguese Vasco Vilaca turned out to be the biggest victim.
Yet the spectacle only really began during the run: as almost always when Jonas Schomburg is at the start of a race, the German flew out of the transition area first, but pretty soon he was passed by Luke Willian and also joined by Belgian Jelle Geens. The three stayed ahead for a few kilometers, but it wasn’t long before American Morgan Pearson, also involved in the last crash on the bike, ran to the front and took over the lead in the race.
What followed was a lesson in running, as Pearson kept running in the lead: even though he was followed by a small group with Luke Willian, Matthew Hauser, Kenji Nener, Vincent Luis, Léo Bergere, Marten van Riel, Charles Paquet and Kristian Blummenfelt, the American did not crack. Indeed; with about three kilometers to go, he accelerated yet again, leaving everyone further and further behind.
With a big grimace on his face – it was clear Hauser was digging deep for the win – the race leader continued to push impressively to eventually claim victory in a time of 1:42:05. Hauser was second in 1:42:12 and Willian was third in 1:42:20.
