Back to back brilliance as Antonio Benito Lopez successfully defended his World Title at the World Triathlon Long Distance World Championship in Pontevedra. The BMC athlete raced attentively in the top 3 during the swim and bike to make his decisive move early on in the run. Antonio broke the tape after completing the 3k swim, 120k bike and 30k run in a time of 5:33:33. Dylan Magnien (FRA; 5:40:52) came home in 2nd with William Draper (GBR; 5:41:12) rounding out the podium.
Outstanding
Coming off his strong 4th place finish at T100 Vancouver, Antonio Benito Lopez toed the line in Pontevedra with confidence. He started his title defence with an excellent swim. Early on, he pulled the front of the lead group. In the second part of the swim, Lopez settled in 3rd place to exit the water in the footsteps of the leaders in front of him.
On the bike, a leading group of 4 athletes was formed, including Antonio. The leading quartet opened up a gap of 1 minute after the first of three laps. Working well together the gap was extended to 5 minutes with 40k to go towards T2. On the final lap, Moreno broke away. Lopez didn’t overdo things and kept riding his own pace, trying to save his energy for the run. Racking his bike in 3rd place, the Spaniard immediately moved up to 2nd at the start of the run, while trailing his leading compatriot by 2 minutes.
Having no trouble finding his stellar running pace, Antonio made quick work of that deficit. Within the first lap of 7.5k, he demolished his deficit and ran down the leader. Just a few moments later, Lopez made his move to take over control of the race and opened up a significant gap. Halfway through the run, the BMC athlete had built an advantage of 4 minutes, keeping his pace high. For the entire second part of the run, Antonio stayed well in control of the race and kept extending his lead. With a fantastic allround and very strong performance throughout the day, he crossed the finish line as back-to-back Long Distance World Champion.
Really really happy
“I am really happy, I can’t believe it. Pontevedra is my second home. I came here with my family, my father, my mother, my girlfriend, my friends. It really has been a special week here", the BMC athlete reflected.
“I had a good swim and was able to control on the bike but the run was very hot and hard. Even the bike was tough with tale wind going uphill so making it very hot on the climb. I felt very good on the run, but it was realy tough in this heat. I tried to keep pushing and finally I can win. With the public here in Pontevedra it was really special, it’s amazing,” added Benito.
