Michael Raelert impressed with powerful season opener
Michael Raelert started into the triathlon 2015 season with a strong result at Challenge Dubai.
He took third place behind Terenzo Bozzone (New Zealand) and Tim Reed (Australia).
“Of course I would have loved it to win here after my victory at Challenge Bahrain, but two guys were just a little bit better today. My warm congratulations to them.”
said Michael Raelert after his finish.
Due to strong winds the first edition of Challenge Dubai was a tough job for all of the athletes. A huge group with a lot of favorites already made themselves going fast in the water. This group including four-time Olympic-distance World Champion Javier Gomez from Spain, US-American Andy Potts, Pete Jacobs from Australia and Michael Raelert immediately tried to break away from the rest of the field. “On the bike there was nothing to expect but an absolutely hard pace,” Michael Raelert described later. Strong cyclists like Terenzo Bozzone, Martin Jensen from Denmark and Manuel Küng made an early move from the top group together with Michael Raelert. Although there were strong head winds and the new non-drafting-zone of 20 meters, the average speed was always around 45 km/h.
“It was the first race of my season. I still can improve my run, but this was a very good start into the year.”
Michael Raelert ran into third place thanks to a split of 1:13:06 hours. He was happy with his start into the new Triple Crown series which will continue in August at Challenge Oman and end in December with Challenge Bahrain.
The two other Castelli athletes haven’t had their best day.
Scotsman Fraser Cartmell had anything but a trouble-free race and finished at 42nd place.
German Matthias Knossalla was forced to pass on competing due to fever in the morning. He will travel on to the Philippines and starts his season at IM 70.3 next weekend.
Side note: Michael Raelert came in at 2nd place. A few hours after the race he and some others imposed a penalty due to shorten the bike track.
Photo Michael Raelert: ©Nis Sienknecht