Wilde after puncture impacted French GP 2nd to Yee: ‘The form is good, so happy’

Photos: Lindahls Pro+ Triathlon Series

By Kent Gray/Triathlon.kiwi
A puncture prevented a true Paris prelude mano-o-mano with Alex Yee but Hayden Wilde showed more than enough in his French Grand Prix season bow overnight to suggest their highly-anticipated Olympics showdown will be epic.

The Kiwi No.1, racing again for Triathlon Club De Lievin in the opening round of the rebranded Lindahls Pro+ Triathlon Series, had to settle for second individually behind an impressive Yee in Fréjus on the Côte d’Azur.

Wilde was in good position until suffering a flat tyre within a kilometre of T2. He rode home on the rim but lost 17 seconds and started the 5km-ish run dead last.

It was no bother for the Andorra-based, Whakatane 26-year-old who made the most of his impressive run form to gobble up the rest of the field to finish second ahead of team-mate Tim Hellwig and spearhead the teams’ triumph for Triathlon Club De Lievin.

Last Tuesday, Wilde set a 5000 track PB at the Meeting Iberoamericano Huelva in Spain, a seriously impressive 13:23:9. It was a few seconds better than Yee’s track PB set at the the Müller Anniversary Games in London (2019).

In Fréjus, Wilde clocked a 13:26 for the roughly 5km to Yee’s 13:29. It was a good 20 seconds faster than anyone else in the men’s field.

Wilde was happy with his day’s work despite the bad luck, especially with his swim after struggling in Hawk Bay in his last start at World Triathlon Cup Napier in February.

“It was good. I was really happy with my swim. Three months ago I was really disappointed so I came to Antibes – the whole reason was for a lot of swimming,” Wilde said.

“My legs are probably a bit fatigued from racing on the running track three days ago, but my aim was to be safe on the bike and so I really pushed it and we broke up the group really nicely, I think I was pushing some very big power, and then on the last kilometre I got a puncture.

“I lost a lot of time after that, so I thought that I’d just take my time, take the first lap nicely and catch the group up and then start chasing the podium. It is what it is and the form is good, so happy.”

You don’t give up 17 seconds to Yee off the bike over 5km and run the Great Brit down. Still, Yee anticipates plenty more battles with Wilde this season, hopefully culminating in a sprint to the tape in Paris on July 30.

“I still didn’t think I had that good a swim,” Yee said, “but hopefully there’s more to come, and if that’s a bad swim, hopefully I can grow.

“It gives good confidence, but obviously I’m sorry for Hayden because he got a puncture in the last 200-metres, which unfortunately means that it’s so hard over 5k, to come back into the race. Hopefully we’ll have some more battles to come… it’s exciting.”