Lucy Byram finished in 5th place at her home race in London. The BMC athlete put together and exceptionally strong bike performance to climb her way up to third and hold that position until the finale 5k of the run. Lucy crossed the finish line in a time of 3:40:26. A performance that sees her move up to 5th place in the T100-series standings. Ashley Gentle (AUS; 3:36:17) broke the tape with Imogen Simmonds (SUI; 3:39:11) and Kat Matthews (GBR; 3:39:29) rounding out the top three.
Round 4 of the T100 Series was one close to home for Lucy Byram as she toed the line in London. During the two-lap swim, Byram settled herself in the big second chase group. A fast transition in the indoor T1-area, saw her jump on the bike at the front of that chase group, 2’50 back from the lead while battling for 6th place. On the bike, Lucy felt strong straight away and started her hunt towards the athletes in front of her. After 20k, as a driving force of a small chase group, she had closed down the gap towards 5th place. The deficit towards the front had come down to 1’50 as well. Another few kilometers further, she connected with 4th place as well. Byram felt strong on the second part of the bike to and managed to break away from her fellow athletes and went after 3rd place on her own. With 14k to go, she had bridged the gap. As Lucy had found an excellent flow, she used those final 14k to break away again to enter T2 on her own in 3rd position, clokcing the second fastest bike split of the day. Byram took off for the run with an advantage of 1’30 over fourth place. She kept giving her all as the gap halfway through the run was cut down to just 30 seconds. The BMC athlete was pushing hard, but saw two athletes make a pass on her with 5k to go. Lucy kept going strong to cross the finish line in a time of 3:40:26. With this performance, she moves up to 5th place in the T100-series standings.
Felt strong all race long
Afterwards, Lucy Byram was more than satisfied with her race. “I felt really strong all day long. Annoyingly, I received a drafting penalty on the bike early on, but a little later that penalty was revoked, because of a malfunction of my Race Ranger-device. I felt strong on the bike. I rode my own, consistent pace to work my way up through the field. On the run, I went all-in and gave my all. So, I am very proud and satisfied with my performance today. I am getting closer and closer to that podium spot. It was great to race so close to home. The atmosphere was amazing and I loved getting cheered on by so many friends and family”.
Tough day for Clément Mignon
Unfortunately, Clément didn’t have the day he hoped for. He struggled to find his rhythm all day long, but kept battling through. He eventually came home in 18th place. Sam Laidlow (FRA; 3:13:38) broke the tape just in front of Kyle Smith (NZL; 3:14:03) as Daniel Baekkegard (DEN; 3:16:41) snatched the final podium spot.
“I had a complete off-day today", Clément added. "I didn’t feel quite well in the swim and lost tow of the group in the second lap. On the bike, I just had no power at all. I even couldn’t reach the watts I pushed in Ironman Texas. Same story on the run. I felt empty in the legs and didn’t have any pace at all. My preparation went well and I didn’t do anything different than for other races. So, I have no explanation for what happened today. In such a high level of racing as today, you can’t hide and you pay cash for those off-days. I will analyse everything in detail with the team over the coming days, turn the switch, recover well and build up towards IM Frankurt in a couple of weeks time.”
