Menno Koolhaas unbeatable in World Cup qualifying race at Isaac 043 Triathlon Maastricht

Menno Koolhaas, Fore ambassador, was just unbeatable at the Isaac 043 Triathlon: Menno Koolhaas took a big victory in Maastricht. Yesterday we saw him at the front of the field during the OD Championships in Rotterdam - but then he was forced to retire because of a flat tyre - but today he was back at the start of this Middle Distance, which is also the qualifying event for the WC Long Distance in Almere. Second place went to Niek Heldoorn, who made his debut at the long distance (+6:09). Milan Brons completed the podium (+13:28).

After the swim, Koolhaas was already comfortably in the lead. After 21:07 minutes, he came out of the water with a 57-second lead on the second athlete - which was Heldoorn. Brons followed in third place, more than two minutes behind Koolhaas. Cornelis Scheltinga and Diederik Scheltinga came out of the water at almost the same time in fourth and fifth place. At this point the brothers were nearly four minutes behind.

On the Bike Menno managed to increase his lead considerably. Especially in the first part of the bike ride, the athlete rode strong and quickly pedalled away from his pursuers. Halfway through the bike leg, Koolhaas enjoyed a two-minute lead over Heldoorn, who was still in second place. Brons followed 4:12 minutes later in third place.

"I was very happy with today's performance, especially after Saturday's bad luck," said Koolhaas, but I am most satisfied with my cycling performance, with the fastest cycling time of 43.5km on average," said Menno Koolhaas.

After 90 kilometres Koolhaas was the first to hang his bike back in the racks. With almost three minutes buffer on his next competitor - Heldoorn - he could then prepare for the running part. Brons finished third a handful of seconds after Heldoorn. Cornelis Scheltinga cycled the last few kilometres together with Belgian Lauren de Smet and so the numbers four and five, about ten minutes after Koolhaas, changed simultaneously to the run. Diederik Scheltinga disappeared from the top ten during the bike leg.

Koolhaas appeared not to have used up all his energy, as he continued his strong race in the run. Halfway through the run, his lead over Heldoorn had increased to 5:36 minutes. Bronze was still in third place (+7:31). It quickly became clear that nobody was going to come between Koolhaas and victory. In the second part of the run, Koolhaas managed to maintain his lead, although he dropped back slightly. After a race of 3:31:50 and a very decent run time of 1:07:53 minutes on the twenty kilometre course, Koolhaas was allowed to lift the ribbon. Heldoorn took silver (+6:09) and Bronze rounded out the podium (+13:28). Cornelis Scheltinga crossed the line in fourth place (+19:46).

Next event: 5 September IRONMAN 70.3 Warschau

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