Bedlam and crashes rule the day at Super League Toulouse
They love to mix things up at Super League Triathlon, but yesterday’s race in Toulouse, France seemed to take things to a new level. A spectacular crash in the women’s race and Hayden Wilde’s riding through transition instead of jumping off his bike captured much of the race day attention. Through it all, though, Great Britain’s Kate Waugh (pictured above) and France’s Leo Bergere put together impressive races to take the wins.
Van der Kaay’s crash
The good news is that New Zealand’s Nicole Van Der Kaay was OK after being taken out by her Scorpions team mate Alice Betto (ITA). As scary as the crash was, Van Der Kaay was quick to assure everyone that she was OK, and that the accident wasn’t Betto’s fault.
“Hey everyone in the comments this was an accident, which unfortunately happens in racing,” Van Der Kaay posted on Instagram. “Alice apologised and is deeply sorry. I’m fine also, no broken bones!”
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If that wasn’t enough bedlam for you …
In addition to the crash, last week’s London winner, Jeanne Lehair, who races for Luxembourg but lives in Toulouse. was disqualified early in the race for not having her helmet done up.
Before that, though, in the first stage of the three-leg Triple Mix event, another of the pre-race favourites, Taylor Spivey, also pulled out. The American, who finished third last week in London, is nursing an injury and did the swim and the bike to earn points for her team, then called it a day.
Waugh dominated on the first to bike legs, setting up for a big advantage for the time trial start of the third leg, where she continued to pull away from the rest of the field for a huge win. France’s Leonie Periault would take second, with countrywoman Emma Lombardi rounding out the podium.
“The crowds were incredible today and they were pushing me on every leg of the bike,” Waugh said at the finish. “I really pushed it on the first two rounds of the bike leg, but I knew I just needed to stay on my bike on the final leg. I saw Jeanne’s helmet come undone in transition and I thought she’d get a penalty, but I didn’t expect a disqualification. I was gutted as I wanted to have a battle to the end, but I like to think that I’d have still got the win! Now I need to get my head down in training and try to do the same again in Malibu.”
Bergere takes dramatic win
The reigning World Triathlon champion was in fine form in Toulouse, staying near the front throughout the day and thrilling the crowd with a home-country win. On the final bike leg Bergere and Olympic bronze-medalist Hayden Wilde had broken away from the rest of the field. Coming into the end of the bike the one-lap to go sign was still visible for some of the slower riders, leading Wilde to think he had one lap of riding to go. Both men rode through the dismount line, but Bergere’s Eagles manager Tim Don got him to stop, allowing the Frenchman to remain in the lead.
Wilde would ride back to transition, but too far back to contend for the podium. The Kiwi was given a five-second penalty for crossing the dismount line. The bedlam of the day continued because Bergere, who had also crossed the dismount line on his bike, was not issued a penalty.
Here’s the official statement Super League posted regarding the appeal:
A meeting of the Race Jury has rejected an appeal against the result of the men’s race at Super League Triathlon Toulouse 2023.
The Jury found that although Léo Bergere rode over the dismount line, an officiating error meant he was not given a five second penalty by the race referees. As he did not have a five second penalty to serve, there is no cause to disqualify him from the race.
Super League Triathlon will investigate this error and support our race officials with the same innovation we bring to our racing to try and ensure this mistake is not repeated in the future.
Without the penalty, Bergere dove into the final swim leg in the lead. South Africa’s Henri Schoeman and Great Britains Jonathan Brownlee would get to within three seconds after the swim, but the Frenchman flew through the last run to take the win.
“I made the right choices during the three stages today,” said Bergere. “I need to thank my manager Tim Don and my team for their help today. I’m sorry I didn’t have the battle we wanted with Hayden [Wilde] today, but it’s part of racing and I’m sure he’ll be good in the last two stages [of the Series].”
Behind Bergere, Brownlee took his second runner-up finish of the series (he finished behind countryman Alex Yee in London) and now leads the series. Schoeman (RSA) rounded out the podium.
