By james art Belgian wildcard Jelle Geens took his first T100 win in his very first attempt at Lake Las Vegas in a dramatic desert duel with fellow countryman and close friend Maarten Van Riel.
Geens’ debut victory came thanks to a fast run stage where he averaged 3:13 minutes per kilometer on a brutal run course around the stunning Reflection Bay golf course, which had 500 meters of elevation gain of wild inclines and steep descents.
Ginns also snapped Van Riel’s six-match unbeaten streak in middle-distance triathlons dating back to November 2019.
“It sounds crazy, but a month ago I wasn’t sure if I could even start here, so now to win here is a great honor – and it was a tough, tough battle with Maarten,” he said.
“We’ve been talking for years when we were still playing short distance that it would be cool to be on the podium together and it never happened in short distance, but now it happened in our first fight at mid distance.
“I felt really good during the run. Even when Maarten came back I felt in control and I felt I was going to do it on the last lap.
“I kept pushing on the climb because that’s where I’m strongest and I tried to do better every lap on the descent, but it really wasn’t easy for me.
“Now my knees really hurt. But I felt confident. I was still running a little scared during the downhill sections. But after I had a pass on the downhills, I started to believe it.”
Jeans and Van Riel played cat and mouse on the run, with Van Riel holding on on the climbs and then closing the gap on the descents.
However, Van Riel’s efforts to catch up took its toll and Jeans held on to cross the line first, with Van Riel delighted to hand his unbeaten streak to a man he had been racing against since they were teenagers.
“It was actually very difficult from start to finish,” Van Riel said. “The track is brutal, but actually I was already suffering on the bike.
“I saw Jelle picking on the group and then it was the same on the run. He’s lighter than me so on the climbs he had the advantage, but on the descents I tried to use gravity to pull him back.
“But in the end I cracked, I didn’t have it. So I’m very happy that Jelle is the one taking it [winning] series.’
Second place still puts Van Riel in pole position to win a maiden World Men’s T100 Championship crown in Dubai next month – where a first-, second- or third-place finish will secure him the inaugural series title.
“This is obviously very important,” Van Riel added. “I was pretty scared on the bike because I felt like in the middle of the bike my watts were really high and I started to suffer a little bit and I was thinking, ‘oh, it’s better to finish high than to completely burn out and completely fade away.’
“It was definitely playing in my head a little bit. But I’m in a very good position to go to Dubai, so that’s obviously a nice cushion.