France’s Pierre Dupuy continued a remarkable streak of form at Challenge Forte Village Sardinia, securing his third victory of the month in 3:37:56. In the women’s race, Great Britain’s Nikki Bartlett surged during the half marathon to take top honors in 4:09:50, holding off a strong challenge from Germany’s Daniela Kleiser.
Widely regarded as one of the most picturesque stops on the Challenge Family calendar, the event featured a rolling-start 1.9 km swim, a 90 km bike leg winding through Santa Margherita di Pula, Domus de Maria, Teulada, and Sant’Anna Arresi, and a 21 km coastal run toward Cala d’Ostia beach before finishing in the new piazza at Forte Village.
Dupuy dictated the men’s race from the very beginning, delivering a true wire-to-wire performance. Clocking 22:31 in the water, he hit T1 with a one-minute buffer over a 16-strong chase pack. Although Germany’s Ruben Zepunkte attempted to bridge the gap during the opening 45 km of the bike, Dupuy proved untouchable. He powered through the 90 km ride in 2:03:31 to stretch his advantage to four minutes entering T2. While his lead narrowed slightly over the run, he remained firmly in control to break the tape in 3:37:56. Belgium’s Joran Driesen claimed second in 3:39:47, with Germany’s Tom Hug rounding out the podium in 3:40:14 courtesy of a fast closing run.
“I am very happy with my race,” said Dupuy. “I went all in on the bike, did a controlled first lap on the run, then gave everything until the finish line.”
The women’s contest unfolded with far more tactical shifts. Great Britain’s Ellie White led out of the swim in 25:43, closely followed by Italian trio Ilaria Zane, Denise Cavallini, and Lilli Gelmini. Once onto the bike, France’s Justine Guerard seized the initiative, establishing a one-minute lead over Zane and putting two minutes into Bartlett. However, Bartlett steadily clawed back time over the second half of the ride, reaching T2 just 40 seconds behind Zane. The Briton wasted no time on the run, overtaking the leaders on the first of two laps and pulling away for the win in 4:09:50. Kleiser ran her way into second place in 4:11:33, while Guerard held on for third in 4:16:32.
“It was unreal”, said Bartlett. “It’s the most beautiful place ever. I took in all the views. I love these kinds of courses.”
*This article is very brief – Triathlon Today was down for a week and a half following the global PHP vulnerability. Purely for the sake of completeness, we chose to publish this article anyway, albeit much later and far less extensively than usual.
