Athletes from 35 nations lined up on Sunday morning at the second edition of Challenge Forte Village, Sardina’s largest event, in a thrilling race that eventually saw Alessandro Degasperi (ITA) and Susie Cheetham (GBR) take the wins in 3:53:56 and 4:26:20 respectively.
At 8:00am the pro field lined up including European Champion Filip Ospaly (CZE), Joe Gambles (AUS) and Ritchie Nicholls (GBR), together with two strong Italians Alessandro Degasperi and Massimo Cigana determined to battle till the end for a place in the podium to deliver a thrilling race with lots of changes up to the very last minute.
After 1.9km swim the lead group all came out of the water within one minute from each other with Cigana four minutes down. Gambles pushed very hard on the bike course arriving first in T2, followed by Cigana who, with a 2:11:16 bike split and ridden up from 17th to join the chase pack which also included Ospaly, Nicholls and Degasperi.
On the run, the first surprise arrived at the end of the second loop when Gambles, who’d started the run with a 3:30 lead, had to pull out due to injury. The lead group was at this point made of Ospaly, Degasperi and the young Albert Moreno Molins (ESP). What followed was an exciting duel between Degasperi who decided to set the paice, and Ospaly while Molins didn't manage to keep up with Degasperi’s speed. Degasperi and Ospaly were fighting for the victory but at 19km Degasperi made his final move without looking behind anymore and claimed victory just eight seconds ahead of Ospaly with Molins rounding out the podium a minute later.
In the womens’ race, Cheetham, who had just finished sixth at Kona, had to push to the end to take the win and to leave behind Maja Stage Nielsen (DEN), who arrived at the finish line in less than 2 minutes after her. Marta Bernardi (ITA) completed the podium.
Results: Challenge Forte Village, Sardinia
Men
1. Alessandro Degasperi 3:53:56
2. Filip Ospaly 3:54:04
3. Albert Moreno Molins 3:55:01
4. Massimo Cigana 3:58:04
5. Christian Otto 4:02:41
Women
1. Susie Cheetham 4:26:20
2. Maja Stagenielsen 4:28:04
3. Marta Bernardi 4:33:57
4. Vanessa Raw 4:35:41
5. Martina Dogana 4:35:58
