Bart Aernouts wins Ironman 70.3 Wiesbaden, Liz Blatchford 5th & Ronnie Schildknecht 7th

It’s another great Sunday for the Uplace-BMC Pro Triathlon Team. Bart Aernouts won his first European Championship Ironman 70.3 today in Wiesbaden. His Uplace-BMC Pro Triathlon Team mate Ronnie Schildknecht finished 7th. In a very strong female field, Liz Blatchford from the Uplace-BMC Pro Triathlon Team took 5th.

Bart Aernouts wins European Championship Ironman 70.3 in Wiesbaden

Bart took his first European Ironman 70.3 title in 4:05:07. Peter Robertson (AUS; 04:08:15) finished second; Maurice Cavel (GER; 4:08:34) came in third.

Bart looked confident from start to finish. He came out of the water as part of a chasing group behind the leaders including Manuel Küng (SUI), Pieter Heemeryck (BEL) and Clavel Maurice (GER). Determined to start running in a good position, Bart pushed hard on the bike and his plan seemed to work. He moved up to take the lead at the 60km mark on the bike. Entering T2, Bart had gathered a lead of 3’11” on Maurice Clavel and Pieter Heemeryck. Bart ran a strong half marathon and got a well-deserved victory with a 2’48” lead on Peter Robertson (AUS).

“A perfect day”

Bart confirmed: “I had a great day, which I did not expected only 6 weeks after the Ironman of Nice, although I had the same preparation as last year, but then I couldn’t start due to insufficient recovery. This is a beautiful race that suits me with a lot of attention and a strong field of contenders.”

Bart started off well. “I had a decent swim and ended up in the 2nd group. Today, I have put everything into the bike. I raced hard and was happy realising that I had lead of 3 minutes on the second and 5 minutes on the chasing group. This was enough to control my position and keep my victory.

Ronnie Schildknecht 7nd in Ironman 70.3 Wiesbaden – European Championship

Ronnie Schildknecht finished 7th, 7 minutes behind his teammate Bart Aernouts.

Ronnie came out the water in the same group as Bart Aernouts. During the bike and the run leg, he kept the same position.

Ronnie confirmed: “I didn’t have a solid day today. I only started training 2 weeks ago after my Ironman in Frankfurt, so I was not in perfect shape. I participated here to get points for Kona. The result is what I expected; it is a good way to get in shape for Kona. Fingers crossed for the Kona selection.”

Liz Blatchford 5th in Ironman 70.3 Wiesbaden – European Championship

In a very strong women’s field, Liz finished 5th in today’s 70.3 European Championship in Wiesbaden. Daniela Ryf was racing in another league today, during the bike leg she pulled away from the rest of the field. In an exciting run leg, a group of 4 women fought for the other podium places. Former world champion, Leanda Cave (GBR), came in 2nd and the young Laura Philip (GER) came in 3rd.

Liz Blatchford looked back her race: “It was definitely not my perfect day, I just finished an altitude training camp and I probably wasn’t recovered enough from my travel. During the swim, I didn’t feel great today. On the bike I did all I could to stay in contention with the other girls. The run was horrible today, disappointing, as my running was going really well in training. I was hanging though and saw it as a great training for Kona.”