Forissier, Riou Win XTERRA Italy-Lake Garda
Press Release / 27.05.2019
French athletes Arthur Forissier and Morgane Riou captured the XTERRA Italy-Lake Garda off-road triathlon elite titles with winning times of 2:41:22 and 3:10:02, respectively, on Sunday, May 26, 2019, in Toscolano-Maderno.
For Forissier, it's his first XTERRA win this season but his second big victory after winning the 2019 ITU Cross Triathlon World Championship last month. For Riou, it was her first victory of the season following a fourth-place at XTERRA New Zealand and a sixth-place at the XTERRA Asia-Pacific Championship.
In the men’s race, Italian Matteo Bozzato was first out of the water together with Mathurin Boutte and Floriano Nicollardi. Thirty-seconds behind were fast swimmers Doug Hall and Tiago Maia, and another 30-seconds behind were the favorites; Forissier and last years Garda Champ, Arthur Serrieres.
The first loop of the bike found Forissier and Boutte together in the lead with Italians Filippo Rinaldi and Bozzato working together just 15-seconds behind the leaders. Last week's XTERRA Malta Champion Rui Dolores was in fifth place proving that this year he has made big improvements.
After a crash by Rinaldi, Forissier made his move on the second loop and entered transition in first place with 60-seconds to Rinaldi. Bozzato was in third place but Serrieres was coming strong from behind in fourth and Dolores in fifth.
Forissier was on fire from the start of the run and opened the gap to three-minutes over Serrieres, who moved into second place by the end of the first run split. Rinaldi held strong in third place just 30-seconds behind him and Dolores moved to fourth after overtaking a cramping Bozzato.
Nothing changed during the second half of the run and Forissier crossed the finish line first, with last year’s winner Serrieres in second, and Rinaldi the top Italian and third overall.
"I had a good swim even if the start was a bit tricky to understand where I was and with who," said Forissier. "Once on the bike I very quickly took the lead with Rinaldi and Bozzato and stayed as relaxed as possible. I felt great and was never going all out. On the middle of the second loop, Rinaldi made a mistake on a technical downhill, I took the lead and never looked back. Starting the run in the front I felt great, I always tried to focus on my own sensations and not worry about the others. Of course, it’s always easy when you are leading. I’m happy to show I can win in a completely different race to the ITU World Champs. The next race for me is Switzerland where I will try to win again".
Dolores had another great day among a strong field of athletes and finished fourth. Filippo Barazzuol was the second Italian of the day to complete the top five. A great performance of note from Xavier Dafflon from Switzerland, who started the run in 12th place but managed to finish sixth.
"I started the bike in a good position to quickly move to the front of the race," said Rinaldi. "I rode the first lap with Forissier before I had a small crash which meant I lost some time and started the run in second place. As soon as I started running, I felt really really tired and my legs were done! I had to walk the really steep uphill and struggled with cramps, so I’m happy to finish third. I know I can still improve so it gives me good confidence going into the rest of the season. I’m now looking forward to racing Belgium in two weeks."
Riou Fights Back To Win
In the women’s race, super-fast swimmer Nicole Walters was first out of the water with a three-minute lead over Sabrina Harpaintner. Another twenty seconds later, the 2019 ITU Cross Tri World Champion Eleonora Peroncini, together with fellow Italian athlete Sandra Maihrofer, exited ahead of Anna Tomica from Poland.
After the first half of the bike Peroncini had taken the lead from Walters and had a one-minute gap over Helena Karaskova. Riou was working together with Karaskova to close the gap.
"The race was quite long for me today, I’m not yet used to such long and hard races," said Peroncini. "It was very difficult and quite technical. I’m more used to ITU Cross races and sprint races. But I really want to work on it and be able to fight on longer races like this. But I’m happy with my performance today, Helena and Morgane were stronger than me and to be on the podium at home in Italy, is very nice. Next week I will be in Portugal to keep improving and get more experience in XTERRA racing. I will be also be in Czech for the XTERRA European Championship"
Karaskova pushed on the second loop and took the lead reaching transition with a small gap to Riou and Peroncini just behind in third. Maihrofer was in fourth place three-minutes back, and Alizee Paties was in fifth.
