Jan van Berkel finished third in Ironman New Zealand in an extremely competitive race. He came out of the water in fourth place and impressed with an excellent time in the marathon. Remember that since his second place in Mexico, Jan (who swims with Orca) has qualified for Hawaii in the professional category.
Adrien Briffod, on the other hand, started the season with a tenth place in Abu Dhabi. Back in Switzerland to prepare the rest of the season, he tells us below about his feelings after the first race.
Three months after the last stage of the World Triathlon Championship Series, which was also held in Abu Dhabi, the world series started again in Abu Dhabi this year, on the Formula 1 circuit. The winter preparation for this race was short but intense, and I felt ready to attack this new season.
In swimming, the watchword was not to get carried away too quickly in order to keep a good support. The start was given and I stuck to this guideline, however, after 100m I started to have people behind me swimming over me and pulling on my tri. At this point I decided to move out of the middle of the pack and onto the outside. This was a good move as it allowed me to reposition myself and move up a few places. I came out of the water about in the middle of the athletes but still in contact with the head of the race.
After a quick transition, I went full power on my bike to quickly catch up with the leaders. After one and a half laps of the five-lap bike, the lead group consisted of 40 to 45 athletes. For the end of the bike, I tried to stay warm in the peloton while keeping an eye out for possible attacks with a real chance to go.
We put the bikes down with almost all the athletes. The start on foot was quite fast, but I decided to start in control and not to show off in front. Soon we found ourselves in a group of 15 athletes that became less dense as the distance went on. After one lap, I found myself in the second group, which was playing for places 5 to 11. I hung on to the group until 1,5 km from the finish, where the group dropped me, but I caught up with them on the small climb with 800 m to go before dropping out for good, but I managed to keep the 10th place until the finish line.
In conclusion, the form is there. I just have to work on the details over the next ten days to get even closer to the podium in Yokohama.