Lionel Sanders gears up for Augusta 70.3 rematch with Jackson Laundry with “vengeance in his heart”
The Canadian star is full of chocolate milk and very motivated after an 11-second defeat last weekend
Canadian Lionel Sanders provided a race recap on his YouTube channel today (see below), providing some insight on his Ironman 70.3 Michigan performance last weekend. He also served up a good-natured warning to the winner of last weekend’s race, Jackson Laundry – “You better be ready … I have vengeance in my heart.”
Jackson Laundry holds off Lionel Sanders by 11 seconds to win Ironman 70.3 Michigan
Sanders was very impressed with the race venue in Frankfort, Michigan, saying that it reminded him of Muskoka, the site of his first professional race. (“It felt like a hometown race.”)
On race day, Sanders said that he got a slow start in the water, but was able to bridge up to the next group.
“We’ve made visible gains (with his swimming),” he said. “But we still have a long way to go.”
After coming out of the water 50-seconds behind Laundry (a little over two minutes behind the leaders), Sanders said that he had an “OK ride” – pushing 335 to 337 watts.
Sanders is back on his old bike, a UCI-legal bike provided by sponsor Canyon that he used when he finished second at the Ironman World Championship in St. George last year. In an attempt to create a more aero position, he pulled out one of the spacers on the front end, creating about 70 mm of drop between his saddle and bar height. While that, in theory, should make for a faster bike split, Sanders felt that the change might have been too aggressive, which meant he wasn’t able to push as hard. (Sanders said that he’ll start doing some bike aero testing in October.)
“Jackson out biked me the whole race,” Sanders said. “Coming in I figured he’d be the guy to beat. I (got to) second place at 50 km on the bike, hung on to second, basically, for the rest of the race.”
While initially he didn’t think he had any chance of catching Laundry, who started the run with a two-minute lead, with three km to go he could see Laundry up ahead and got “a little bit motivated.”
“I think I negative split the run,” he said. “I think I closed the final 3 km in 3:14, 3:13 and 3:09, certainly (my) best final 3 km in a half.”
“It was the best I could do,” he said. And, while some were disappointed he didn’t take the win, Sanders pointed out that he had a solid race. “The game’s changed. I pushed the same power I did today as I was pushing at worlds … if you meld what I did on the bike with a 1:09:50 run, that puts me in third (at the 70.3 world championship in Lahti, Finland). The game has evolved – there were really good  guys finishing fifth through eighth.”
“I had a really good race,” Sanders said. “Jackson had a better race.”
This weekend Sanders will have a chance to take on Laundry again at Ironman 70.3 Augusta.
“I am very motivated,” Sanders said. “I have drunk a gallon of chocolate milk, I have drunk Coca Cola, I’m hitting the orange juice and apple juice hard, and I’m going to get a burger. I’m going to recover like I’ve never recovered before, and I’m going to be firing on all cyclenders – you better be ready … I have vengeance in my heart now.”
