Pablo Dapena Gonzales (3:40:59) ran his way to a fantastic 3rd place at the IM70.3 European Championship in Elsinore. His teammate Patrik Nilsson (3:42:52) finished in 4th position. Rudy Von Berg (USA; 3:39:31) won the race as Javier Gomez (ESP; 3:39:42) clinched 2nd place.
Strong performances
Just back from a training camp at altitude, Patrik Nilsson toed the line of IM70.3 EU Champs in Elsinore together with his teammate Pablo Dapena. The BMC-Vifit duo started their race in a perfect way. Pablo exited the water in 2nd place just one second shy of the fastest swimming split of the day. In that same big group of athletes, Patrik exited the water in 10th place. In the early parts of the bike, Nilsson lost the connection with the first chase group. A situation he would rectify towards the halfway point. At the 57k mark, both Pablo and Patrik were riding in the middle of a big chase group fighting for 3rd place. Towards the end of the bike, another two riders broke away so the BMC-Vifit athletes were battling for 5th place entering T2. In the first kilometres of the run, Dapena was setting the pace together with Gomez. Both Spaniards were charging their way through the field as Pablo came through in 3rd place at the halfway mark. Patrik settled in his own pace and pushed his way to the front of the field as well. As Pablo’s 3rd place was never endangered anymore, Patrik made a move in the final 4k to take control of 4th position. With the 2nd running split of the day, Pablo Dapena Gonzales crossed the finish line in 3rd place in a time of 3:40:59. Just a few moments later, his BMC-Vifit teammate Patrik Nilsson came home in 3:42:52 to claim 4th position.
Very happy with my result
Afterwards Pablo Dapena looked back at his race: “In the swim my plan was to stay with Gomez as close as possible in which I succeeded. On the bike I kept safe in the group. Von Berg started to open up a bigger and bigger gap until it was impossible to catch him back before T2. The run felt really good today, even better than in Rapperswill three weeks ago. I’m happy with the result and another podium today. Together with the 4th place of Patrik it will be a good BMC-Vifit party tonight”.
Nilsson very satisfied with his performance
Also Patrik Nilsson was very satisfied with his performance: "Coming straight down from altitude and with all the travel, it was a bit of a question mark how the body would respond. In the swim I made a small mistake and lost the connection with the leaders. On the bike I felt very strong today and I managed to ride up to the big group. Once in the group I knew there were some very fast runners and I tried to break away a few times. Unfortunately they didn't give me any space and I settled in the chase group for the final part of the bike. On the run I tried to match the pace of Gomez and my team mate Pablo, but I couldn"t stick with their pace today. So I ran my own race and I am very happy to take 4th place today. I feel very confident to build on this for the rest of the season."
