firstoffthebike.com - Races

70.3 Antwerp - Speed week awaits.

Europe is the setting for the triathlon world this weekend. Along with the ITU speedfest in London Antwerp will be the scene this week of the ubiquitous 70.3 race this weekend. The field assembled is good without being great but there are still some interesting questions to be answered.

The main man for this race is marino Vanhoenacker. Vanhoenacker is an extraordinarily talented athlete. His season to date has also been a stellar one. A 30 minute win at Ironman Malaysia was one highlight. He also had a 4th at 70.3 Austria behind a talented trio Filip Ospaly, Macca and Michael Raleert. But the real exclamation point for his season was at IM Austria where he clocked an astounding 7:52. This stunned the triathlon world and put everyone on notice.

Our other favorite for this race is Dirk Bockel. Bockel is putting together a good season also with a 2nd at Abu Dhabi and a 5th New Orleans 70.3. More recently he had another 5th at Austria 70.3 and is due for win. Bockel is a super talent and we are waiting for the explosion that will set him up for the second part of the season.

Bert Jammaer has a had a quieter season although he managed a 2nd at Ironman Lanzarote by a scant 2 minutes. He will be a factor. As will Phil Graves. Graves has proven himself over this distance and if he decides to take the stick out on the bike then the field might get whacked. He was 8th in Texas 70.3, 4th at Wildflower and almost took out UK 70.3.

The women's race sees a lot of European athletes on the start line with the favorite Sophie Goos. Goos won the Lisboa triathlon in April and, the Half Challenge in Barcelona saw her second. Her biggest rival looks to be Emma Kate Lidbury who had a 10th at Florida 70.3.