With a great surge in the final kilometers of the run, Sam Dickinson finished IM70.3 Venice-Jesolo in 4th place. After a fast race in all three disciplines, the BMC athlete crossed the line in a time of 3:33:03, just 16 seconds short of the podium. Panagiotis Bitados (GRE; 3:31:01) inched out Cameron Main (GBR; 3:31:07) for the win with Emil Holm (DEN; 3:32:47) rounding out the podium.
IM70.3 Venice-Jesolo marked the start of the season for Sam Dickinson. The swim went well as he exited the water in 4th place, well inside a big leading group. On the bike, Sam rode attentively in front as the big bunch stayed together. Rico Bogen broke away after 30k and Sam tried to respond, but the gap was already too big to close down. As Bogen kept extending his lead, Dickinson had settled himself in the middle of the group again, trying to conserve as much energy as possible for the run. With a blistering bike split of 1:57:51 in the legs and a chaotic transition with 11 athletes, Sam managed to start the closing 21k run in 7th place. Dickinson kept his grip on that 7th position for the first part of the run, but that changed around the 14k mark. That’s where he managed to move up to 6th and started to inch closer towards the athletes in front of him as well. Sam kept his pace as high as possible and trailed top 4 by 25 seconds with 4k left to run. With an amazing final surge, the British athlete dug deep and managed to make two passes in the ultimate kilometers. Dickinson came really close to the podium, but just ran out of real estate. After 3:33:03, Sam crossed the line 4th place.
A good result for a bad day
Afterwards Sam Dickinson felt gutted, but optimistic about his race result. “Too bad, I couldn’t close down the gap towards 3rd place at the end. The race didn’t go as planned though. Just a shame I didn’t have a great day on the bike today and it costed me the race. With these Ironman Pro Series and 12 meters draft zones, Rico Bogen broke away without me noticing. That’s a big learning for me to be well positioned through the switchbacks and respond to attackers. By the time, I got to the front again, he was already clear and I couldn’t close it down. After that, I knew no one else was getting away, so it was all about saving the legs for the run. I paced my run really well. My goal was to run a 1h12 half marathon and eventually clocked a 1h10, so happy with that. Once I’ve done a bit more running, I hope that I can be more competitive at the front end of these races, especially if the bike is as easy as today. But in the end, it’s a good result for a bad day, if that’s the way you want to look at it. I’m already looking forward to the next one with more experience in the bank and to have a crack at it again. Just gutted to miss that the podium today, but I’ll have to be patient and it will come.”
