IRONMAN France in 8h08'59"

3rd victory in a row in Ironman France in a new record of 8h08’59”

That my record time of last year was beatable, I knew before the start. But that I would better my time with almost 13’, that is unbelievable. It only shows that I’m still getting faster and stronger. For me, the most important thing to take home from Nice and to start my preparation for Hawaii in a couple of weeks.

In fact I was able to execute my race plan as I made it before the race. Set a good pace in the swim, 48’ over the 3800m with only Alonso and Pannier in my company. A quick transition and from the beginning of the bike section I was on my own. In the lonely 180km , in a new record time of 4h33’, I could open up a gap to my closest follower Aernouts , that was around 8’. In the marathon Aernouts came really close and 10km from the finish line there was only 2’20” over from my lead. Super exiting end of this Ironman but thanks to a strong 10km I could celebrate a very hard fought victory.
Time for some recovery now, I’ll need it ;-)

Thanks a lot to everyone for the support and the congratulations and of course to all my sponsors and family.