Vandendriessche and Van Vlerken win the International Lanzarote Duathlon 2017

Kenneth Vandendriessche from Belgium and Yvonne Van Vlerken from the Netherlands took the win in the 21st edition of the International Lanzarote Duathlon at Club La Santa, where the athletes completed 5 km race, 20 bike and 2,5 more race.

The men came out with a fast pace the first 5 Km, where Vandendriessche and Antoine Mechin de Fracia led the test. They made the two laps of 2,5 kilometers seem easy and reached the first checkpoint in 15: 25. Once on the bike, Vandendriessche took the lead and surprised his competitors in Famara, arriving alone at the second checkpoint and leading the race to the end. The Belgian won with more than a minute and a half of advantage, Mechin and the Argentine Leon Martin Drajer accompanied him on the podium.
 
"The first 5km were very fast but I started very well and when Mechin happened to me I managed to follow him. Just before Soo on a bicycle I attacked and I was able to arrive alone at Famara, back in Soo and up to Club La Santa, I had a comfortable advantage in the last 2,5Km and I am very happy about it, I did not have to go to the 100% in the last lap, but my coach Luc Van Lierde told me that today was a great training session to produce lactate, so I could not run easily until the end, I did the best I could. This year I hope to win the IRONMAN 70.3 and I want to have the rematch at the IRONMAN 70.3 Club La Santa in Lanzarote, where I finished second last year"Were the Belgian's statements when crossing the finish line.
 

Male podium

1) Kenneth Vandendriessche, Belgium 55: 03
2) Antoine Mechin, France 56: 44
3) Leon Martín Drajer, Argentina 57: 05

In the women's race, the winning 5 times Yvonne Van Vlerken from Holland shared the road with Alexandra Tondeur and the Spanish Maria Varo Zubiri in the first 5, but Van Vlerken and Tondeur tried to escape on the bike route. Van Vlerken tried to lose the Belgian but this was achieved in the transition, the two were together in the last 2,5 km. Leading the race in the last 300 meters, Van Vlerken stepped on the accelerator and opened a gap that Tondeur could not recover and the veteran won an 6º title in this race with Tondeur second, to 13 seconds of Van Vlerken. The third position was taken by the Spanish Maria Varo Zubiri to 4 minutes of the winner.

“I feel as if this race belongs to me, because I have already won it 6 times, the first in 2002, and although I am getting old and I am not the person in the best shape in the world, the person who always wins, everything is inside my head . The first 5 kilometers were not very fast but I did not want to be in a very large group in the race because there were very good cyclists. I have tried to go faster to lose some girls and it has worked.

“I took advantage of the descent to get away, but Alexandra caught up with me in T2, I knew from the first race that Alexandra was under pressure and that I would probably be the fastest running, so I felt in control” Said Yvonne van Vlerken, adding:

"When I come to Lanzarote I always plan the race because I love this event, and I think it's a great race in the women's section. It's very well organized and it's nice when you do not notice the changes and you see that everything is the same, it's incredible, "said the Dutch winner.

Female podium

1) Yvonne van Vlerken, Netherlands - 1: 01: 40
2) Alexandra Tondeur, Belgium - 1: 01: 53
3) Maria Varo Zubiri, Spain - 1: 05: 41

There are no previous results.

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