Pablo Dapena European LD Runner-up in Challenge Madrid

The city of Madrid has hosted the second edition of the Challenge Madrid where the Belgian Timothy Van Houtem has reissued last year's victory and Pablo Dapena has achieved a spectacular second position, debuting in a full distance in style. Challenge Madrid began punctually at 7:45 with the elite men's start. The Riosequillo reservoir in Buitrago de Lozoya, was the place where they swam the 3.800 m in a 1.900 m circuit to which the triathletes did two laps. Entry by Pablo Dapena in Meta .@pablitopiny second in @challengemd, runner-up in Europe!! pic.twitter.com/sE1kTaxSTO - Triathlon News (@triatlonnoticia) September 23, 2018 The Spanish team came out in a rush with four triateltas taking the first four positions in T1. Carlos López Díaz was the first to get out of the water with a time of 46:10, with Pablo Dapena close behind him. 5' away in third position came T1 Ramon Ejeda, along with Albert Moreno and Morten Brammer. For his part, Timothy Van Houtem left almost 10' with the head of the race in the first segment. Further back there were other favorites such as Carlos Aznar or Alejandro Santamaría. Carlos López and Pablo Dapena went together in the first kilometers of cycling, a tough sector of 180 km with the ports of Canencia, Morcuera and Cotos. López and Dapena passed first at kilometer 50. Van Houtem was in third place behind, who in these first kilometers had already reminded them of more than three minutes at the head of the race. The fourth position was for Albert Moreno who at that time was next to the Belgian. Dapena and López were still in the lead halfway through the cycling segment, but with Houltem closer. The Belgian was having the best cycling partial and he only gave up 2' at km 100. Behind Moreno was fourth, 4' behind Houlten. Around kilometer 125, Van Houlten hunted Dapena and López, the three of them passed together through checkpoint number three. Moreno was still fourth, more than 9' behind the leading trio, along with Morten Brammer. In the final kilometers of cycling Van Houtem went alone, breaking the lead of the race and reached T2 with a time of 6:09:23. His partial cycle was the best of all the participants, with 5:10:44. Pablo Dapena was second in T2, 4 and a half minutes behind the Belgian. Third was Carlos López who lost time in the last kilometers of the cycling segment and came more than 14' from Dapena to T2. Fourth was Brammer, 40'' behind Carlos. Behind, several trialtetas made up for a large part of the time lost in swimming and arrived in a top 10 position such as Javier Garcia or Alejando Santamaría. A spectacular marathon with steps along the Calle Mayor, the Palacio Real, the Senate, the Plaza de España, the Templo de Debod or Paseo Pintor Rosales was to end this edition of the Challenge Madrid. Timothy Van Houtem came out strong to face the 42km race on foot with a good pace and went first through the first lap, maintaining practically the same difference with Dapena, who was second. From behind there were important variations: Brammer was third, with a 4' advantage over Carlos López, while fifth place went to Carlos Aznar who had climbed five positions and sixth place was Santamaría. Going through the second lap, Van Houtem was even more of a leader with Dapena almost 10' behind. Dane Brammer remained in third place and Carlos López was still fourth, with only a 2' lead over Carlos Aznar who had been flying. At the start of the third lap, everything was the same in the podium positions, but behind Aznar was fourth. Timothy Van Houtem European Champion in the @challengemd @Challenge_Famil pic.twitter.com/SMmXU0X7dY — Triathlon News (@triatlonnoticia) September 23, 2018 Finally, a resounding victory for Timothy Van Houtem with a great cycling partial and a solid race on foot , who proclaimed himself European Long Distance champion. Second in goal and silver medal was Pablo Dapena, the current LD world champion. The third to finish was Carlos Aznar, but since he was not part of the team he did not get on the podium. The fourth in goal and bronze medal was Morten Brammer followed by Alejandro Santamaría who came in fifth final position finishing fourth in the European Championship. Regarding the women's competition, the British Laura Siddall has won the second edition of the Madrid Challenge, followed by the Belgian Alexandra Tondeur and the American Lisa Roberts. The Italian Margie Santimaría was the first to cover the 3800m swim, with a great time of 53'39'', only surpassed by four men. Later, almost 5 minutes after her, a quartet made it with the Austrian Eva Wutti, the British Mary Norman, Laura Siddall and the Belgian Alexandra Tondeur. Soon Wutti, Tondeur and Siddall began to pedal hard, overtook the Italian and took the lead, passing together at km 50. At the second timing point Laura Siddall was pulling the group by with Tondeur and Wutti alongside them. For his part, Santimaria gave up more than 7 minutes. Fifth was Lisa Roberts, last year's winner, who at this point left more than 12 minutes with the head of the race. In the second third of the cycling segment Laura Siddall broke the competition and went alone, reaching T2 with a time of 6:46:18. 6 minutes from her, Eva Wutti did it together with Tondeur. Nearly 20' behind, Santimaria was fourth and a little later Roberts arrived at the second transition. After the first lap of the run Laura Siddall was still comfortable in the lead position, managing the lead. The Belgian Tondeur was second but had only been able to cut a few seconds off the leader. Third was Eva Wutti almost 7 minutes behind Siddall. For her part, Lisa Roberts was doing the best run on foot and was fourth at this point in the race, more than 13' behind the Austrian. At the start of the second lap, the two leaders were still the same, Siddal the solid leader and Tondeur 5 minutes behind. Behind Eva Wutti suffered and lost time with Roberts who was already 10 minutes from the podium. On the third lap Tondeur had cut the lead to just over 4 minutes, but the leader Siddall was still running very well. For his part, Roberts was only 5' from the podium, cutting Wutti a lot of time. By the fourth lap Roberts was already third, giving time to Wutti who was not able to run well in the marathon. Finally victory has been for Laura Siddall who was proclaimed European Champion, second was the Belgian Alexandra Tondeur who achieved the silver medal. Third place in the Madrid Challenge corresponded to last year's winner, the American Lisa Roberts. Fourth in the finish line and a bronze medal was a great Eva Wutti who, despite suffering a lot on foot, managed to get on the podium.

Pablo Dapena European LD Runner-up in Challenge Madrid

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