Lionel Sanders bounces back from broken rib with another huge win at Ironman 70.3 Mont-Tremblant

The day will be remembered because of the torrential rain that didn’t relent for the entirity of the pro race (things eased off a bit later in the day for the age group competitors), but today’s running of Ironman 70.3 Mont-Tremblant will also go down in history as another example of how strong Lionel Sanders can be when he’s in top form. The Canadian star might live in Tucson, Arizona these days, but he’s long had an affinity for this race site in the heart of the Laurentians. While he’s never won the full-distance event that was held here until last year (he finished second twice), coming into today’s race he’d taken the 70.3 race five times.

So, while Sanders should have been the prohibitive favourite at the start of today’s race, especially since he’d dominated Ironman 70.3 Oceanside to start his season, there was still a question mark about how he would perform because he was still recovering from a broken rib he sustained after his big win in San Diego.

Shortened swim

As if to make things a bit easier for Sanders to have another great day here in Mont-Tremblant, race organizers shorted the swim because of the choppy conditions out on the lake. That meant swim leader Joao Pereira came out of the water a second under 15 minutes, with a big group right behind that included Americans Justin Riele, Ben Kanute and Matthew Marquardt, with Sanders hitting T1 in 19th place, just 1:11 behind.

Riele, Kanute and Marquardt would quickly create a lead group out on the bike course that would try to hold off Sanders, but the Canadian was having none of it. Even though he had only gained a few seconds through the 33 km check point, by the time the leaders were at the 66 km mark Sanders was very much in the mix, pushing the pace. Kanute would fall back from the group over the closing stages of the bike – he was 1:31 down as the leaders started the run.

Riele blasted out of transition first, but it wasn’t long before Sanders would fly by the American. By three km the lead was almost a minute, and by the halfway point it was clear that everyone else was racing for second. Over the final 5 km Kanute started to make his move, blasting towards the podium as Marquardt and Riele tried to hang on to second and third.

Sanders would cross the line in 3:35:11, well clear of the fireworks that were going on behind him between Kanute and Marquardt. The two were neck and neck with 1 km to go, with Kanute taking the sprint, crossing the line in 3:37:29, with Marquardt rounding out the podium three seconds later. Riele would take fourth (3:38:32), with Canadian Jackson Laundry netting fifth (3:39:45).

Stay tuned for more coverage from here in Mont-Tremblant.