Vilaca is finally off the mark: after almost countless silver and bronze medals, the Portuguese athlete has just won the first WTCS of the season, marking his first-ever WTCS victory. In Samarkand, Uzbekistan, he decided the race in the final four hundred meters with a devastating sprint.
Early on during the swim, the young Hungarian Márton Kropkó stretched the field wide open; he swam so strongly that he managed to gain a lead of several body lengths and was the first to exit the water. This ensured he started the first kilometers of the bike leg in the lead, supported by the Brazilian Miguel Hidalgo. However, their eight-second lead quickly vanished. Two groups joined from behind, ensuring most of the favorites came together in a large peloton. Nevertheless, a few names were missing from this group, such as Hugo Milner, Oliver Conway, Alessio Crociani, David Cantero del Campo, and Maxime Hueber-Moosbrugger.
The large group stayed together in its entirety until the second transition zone (T2), with the exception of two athletes: Kropkó decided to launch another attack in the final seven kilometers of the bike leg and was joined by the American Chase McQueen. Although the duo only broke away in the final kilometers, they managed to build a lead of 25 seconds. Kropkó, in particular, added a lot of flair to the race with his many attacks, providing plenty of excitement.
Kropkó continued to push during the run and didn’t seem to be running out of energy – until, after about two kilometers, he suddenly came to a halt with cramps, seeing his dream of a potential upset shatter. This was also the moment a lead group formed consisting of Tom Richard, Csongor Lehmann, Miguel Hidalgo, Vasco Vilaca, Charles Paquet, Henry Graf, Ricardo Batista, and Tim Hellwig, though the first men began to drop off shortly after.
With about five kilometers to go, only Graf, Paquet, and Vilaca were leading, closely followed by Richard, Lehmann, and Batista, while Milner, Conway, and Cantero del Campo were rapidly moving up from behind.
In the final kilometer, Paquet made the first serious move in the lead trio, but Vilaca and Graf were able to follow well. Vilaca still had a sprint left in his legs for the very last meters; with about 400 meters to go, he suddenly went full throttle and dropped his direct competitors.
Vilaca won the race, his first WTCS win ever, in a time of 1:43:33. Graf finished second in 1:43:37 and Paquet third in 1:43:41.
