Frederic Belaubre, the champion from 2006 and 2005, led a French gold-silver sweep at today’s Lisbon ETU Triathlon European Championships. Tony Moulai took the silver while Swiss Olivier Marceau grabbed the bronze in an exciting photo finish. Surprisingly, defending champion Javier Gomez finished in seventh place, more than a minute and a half behind the champion Belaubre. Today’s race marked the first since the world championships in 2006 that Gomez failed to make the podium, an impressive streak that stretched 16 races.
Brit Richard Stannard was first out of the water with Belaubre and Stephane Poulat on his heels. Not far back was Gomez who was 14 seconds behind Stannard.
Out onto the flat 40-kilometer bike course, 47 men made up the lead group until Marceau broke off the front and held a 5-second lead after the first lap. After being joined by Slovak Pavel Simko, another five men broke away to join them by the end of lap three, which proved to be the turning point in the race. That group included a strong cycling trio from France with Belaubre, Moulai and Poulat. The lead pack of seven powered away from the field and created much needed separation from a host of great runners including Gomez, Czech Filip Ospaly, Brit Will Clarke and Ivan Rana of Spain.
The breakaway paid off as the seven men owned a meaty 90-second lead over the chase. Halfway through the run, the French pair of Belaubre and Moulai separated themselves as the race leaders while Marceau, Poulat and German Andreas Raelert would be left to battle for the bronze.
In the final kilometer, Belaubre made his move and pulled ahead of his teammate and cruised to his third European title. With Moulai’s silver, it was the third time since 2005 that the French have won gold and silver in the elite men’s field. In a furious sprint for bronze, Marceau just beat out Raelert at the line. Poulat rounded out the top five, capping a wildly successful day for the French team with race strategies carried out to perfection.
Gomez made up some time on the run, posting the day’s fastest run split but it was only good enough for seventh place. His only consolation was perhaps his sprint to the line to edge out Belgian Axel Zeebroek, which might help silence criticism of his weak finishing kick.
2008 Lisbon ETU Triathlon European Championships
Official Results – Elite Men
1.5km swim, 40km bike, 10km run
Gold – Belaubre, Frederic (FRA) 1:53:03
Silver – Moulai, Tony (FRA) 1:53:23
Bronze – Marceau, Olivier (SUI) 1:53:54
4th – Raelert, Andreas (GER) 1:53:54
5th – Poulat, Stephane (FRA) 1:53:54
6th – Simko, Pavel (SVK) 1:54:02
7th – Gomez, Javier (ESP) 1:54:44
8th – Zeebroek, Axel (BEL) 1:54:44
9th – Riederer, Sven (SUI) 1:55:03
10th – Petzold, Maik (GER) 1:55:08
Full field results will be available here
The junior men’s championships earlier was perhaps a sign of things to come in the elite race as Vincent Luis of France won gold in an exciting finish that unfortunately disappointed the home crowd. Last year he was a bronze medalist at the junior world championships. Joao Silva won Portugal’s third medal of the day by claiming silver while Jonathan Brownlee of Great Britain took the bronze. He is the younger brother of Alistair Brownlee, the junior world champion from 2006.
2008 Lisbon ETU Triathlon European Championships
Final Results – Junior Men
750m swim, 20km bike, 5km run
Gold – Luis, Vincent (FRA) 00:59:04
Silver – Silva, Joao (POR) 00:59:04
Bronze – Brownlee, Jonathan (GBR) 00:59:22
Full field results will be available here
