Pablo Dapena Gonzalez put together another excellent performance and clinched his fourth second place finish of the season. In Rapperswil the BMC-Vifit athlete was on fire in the closing half marathon and came very close to take the victory. Ultimately it was Andi Boecherer (GER; 3:48:30) who held off the BMC-Vifit athlete to take the win. After second places in Challenge Salou, Challenge Lisboa and at the ITU Worlds, Gonzalez (ESP; 3:49:29) took another silver this time in Switzerland. With this result the BMC-Vifit athlete also secured his qualificiation for the IM70.3 World Championship in Nice later in the year. Sven Riederer (SUI; 3:50:57) rounded out the podium. Pablo's team mate Manuel Küng put together a very solid performance as well and finished sixth (3:57:33).
Very happy
Afterwards Pablo reflected on his result: "Another 2nd place! I am very happy with how I felt today, finally my killer run appaered this year. Unfortunately on the bike in a downhill section the athlete in front of me let a small gap on the leaders. We tried to do all we could to close the gap again but did not manage to get back on. Once back in transition I was ready to put up a fight in the half marathon and what a battle it was, first with Sven Riederer who I was running side by side with for 11k. Then I managed to accelerate. I came very close, about 30 seconds short to take the win. But very very happy and especially also to qualify for the World Championships in Nice.
Not the perfect day
Manuel Küng looked back at his race as well: "I didn't feel good today. I struggled already a bit on the swim, which is not normal for me. On the bike I really put the pressure on in the first lap. I took the risk to brake up the lead group but paid for my efforts in the closing stages of the bike. I tried, but didn't have the day I hoped for. It will definitely set me up for my next race in two weeks time in Luxembourg.
