Race preview: The battle is on at Ironman 70.3 Les Sables d’Olonne

Tomorrow over 80 top professional triathletes are expected to converge in the seaside town of Les Sables d’Olonne to compete in the tenth race of the IM Pro series.

Among those to watch at Ironman 70.3 Les Sables d’Olonne, and making their IM Pro Series debut, will be IM 70.3 World Champion, Rico Bogen (DEU), who will be wearing bib number one, and if he finishes the race will validate his start at the IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship race in Taupō, New Zealand. He will be up against 2022 IM World Champion Gustav Iden (NOR), who will return to race in the IM Pro Series in an attempt to validate his place for the 2024 IM World Championship on Kona, after also completing IM 70.3 Warsaw earlier in the year. 

Home favourite, Clément Mignon, will also return to the IM Pro Series following a third place position at IM North American Championship Texas. Fellow countryman, Arnaud Guilloux who currently sits just inside the top 20 of the IM Pro Series, will also be looking to build on his current position, following his fourth place finish at IM Asia-Pacific Championship Cairns over the weekend. 

Nicholas Quenet (ZAF) who finished in the top five at both the IM 70.3 Boulder and IM 70.3 North American Championship St. George races, and Nicolas Mann (DEU), who won the IM 70.3 Alcudia-Mallorca race will also be putting up a fight in order to clinch maximum points and climb up in the standings. 

In the women’s professional field, last year’s IM 70.3 Les Sables D’Olonne-Vendée runner-up Emilie Morier (FRA) will wear bib number one as she makes her IM Pro Series debut, alongside fellow French athletes Justine Mathieux and Marjolaine Pierre.

Maja Stage Nielsen, who came second at the IM European Championship Hamburg race and currently sits in seventh place in the standings is also expected to toe the line, alongside a strong British contingent made up of Kate Curran, Ruth Astle, Nikki Bartlett, Rebecca Anderbury, and Rachel Brown. 

Athletes will take on a one-loop 1.9k (1.2-mile) sea swim in the Vendée Globe canal, famous for the Vendée Globe yacht race. They will then traverse through the breathtaking French countryside on a one-loop 90km (56 mile) bike course, which takes athletes to the east of the city and into the Olonne forest. Finally, a two loop run course of 21.1 km (13.1-mile) will see athletes run on the promenade along the Tanchet Lake and cross the finish line in the centre of town, not forgetting a 200m sandy run on the “Grande Plage” beach.