Dubai T100 Grand Final: Marten Van Riel takes win and world title

Marten Van Riel proved he is currently the premier middle distance triathlete in the world, by taking the first ever T100 world title in Dubai.

The Belgian came into the Grand Final with two wins and a runners-up finish from his three starts in the series and took the tape once more with a commanding performance to take the $210k on offer for the overall champion.

Van Riel’s closest challenge came from Germany’s reigning Ironman 70.3 world champion Rico Bogen, who battled valiantly to finish second, with Alistair Brownlee delivering his best performance of the seven-race series to finish third.

New Zealand’s Kyle Smith – who wasn’t one of the originally contracted athletes and has been the wildcard success of the season – was overtaken by Brownlee in the final stages to finish fourth, but it was still good enough to earn the Kiwi second overall in the final standings.

David McNamee also brought the curtain down on his professional triathlon career. The Scot, who has twice finished in third place in the Ironman World Championship ran through for 12th in Dubai.

What happened in the swim?

The water temperature hadn’t cooled down from the previous day’s women’s race, and it was more than 30 degrees celsius as the men started the two-lap 2km swim.

Van Riel was first to the front as he looked to assert his authority, with more than half the 20-strong field lined out behind him.

The Belgian ceded the lead for the second lap of the swim, with Aaron Royle taking charge, but as the Australian entered T1 in 24:36, there was a group of 12 men in close attendance – including GB’s Brownlee and McNamee.

Of the main contenders, Magnus Ditlev was 76sec adrift, with Sam Long in the familiar position of being last out of the water and more than 4min behind.

What happened on the bike?

The 80km bike leg was always going to be a closely contested battle, particularly because after the opening kilometres, it then became seven tight and technical laps close to the vicinity of the Meydan Racecourse, a popular horse racing venue.

Mathis Margirier set the early pace, but well before halfway it had settled into a paceline of six at the front with the Frenchman joined by Van Riel, Brownlee, Smith, Bogen and Germany’s Fred Funk.

Ditlev was moving smoothly through the field to close within 40sec before a seat post issue forced the Dane into an unforeseen pit-stop which derailed his chances. He recovered enough to still post the seventh fastest bike split and reach transition in seventh place.

Other than Ditlev, no-one else was making a charge from further back in the race, with Long more than 5min down and both South African Bradley Weiss and USA’s Ben Kanute both dropping out on the bike.

What happened on the run?

After Brownlee had to go back and retrieve a bike shoe in T2 to avoid a penalty, the first three to get away on the 18km run were Van Riel, Smith and Bogen.  

It was the same three who were involved in a memorable sprint finish in San Francisco T100 in June, where Van Riel just pipped Smith in a photo finish.  

Max Neumann, who has struggled with health and fitness since winning over 100km in the PTO European Open in Ibiza last year, was the next to drop out.

The front trio opened a gap of a minute to Brownlee and the rest of the chasers, and as they approached halfway Smith was the first to crack.

While Bogen was hanging tough, Van Riel made his move with under 3km to go, finishing with the day’s quickest run split in 58:26.

Brownlee was closing in on Smith for a duel for the final podium place, and despite a slip as he approached the Kiwi’s shoulder, Brownlee managed to pick himself back up to make the overtake for his best result of the series.

McNamee had the finish tape raised for him for a final time before he crossed the line in 12th place to round out his career.

Van Riel said:

“It was tough wearing the No 1 because I knew that a podium place was good enough, but that makes it really hard to go for the win as well. I tried not to think too much about the title but just go for the win on the day.

“Rico is really good at keeping the pace high, but I could feel I had a couple of surges in me. I knew that with a couple of kilometres to go I would try to put in a big surge.”

Brownlee said:

“I needed some stars to align and thankfully they aligned for me today. You know that very rarely do things go perfect in triathlon, and you have to try to deal with the stuff that goes wrong.

“In terms of my physical ability, I’ve been much fitter in some other races this year, but just had to do what I could today. I try to take a positive attitude into every race, but the last two months have been horrific. I’ve hardly done any sessions, maybe one bike and two run sessions since Ibiza.”

Commenting on taking part in every race of the seven-event series. “It’s a lot of travel, that’s true, but I haven’t done any other triathlons. I’ve focused on this and done a bit of bike racing around it, but really I’ve only done seven triathlons, and didn’t finish two of them.

“It doesn’t actually sound that bad and my thinking was that I can’t put my eggs in a few baskets as there are too many uncontrollables. I had to turn up to the races with whatever form I’ve got and see what happens.”

T100 Dubai Grand Final results:

1. Marten Van Riel 3:09:17
2. Rico Bogen +22sec
3. Alistair Brownlee +1:08
4. Kyle Smith +1:24
5. Mathis Margirier 2:27

T100 final overall standings

1. Marten Van Riel 153pts
2. Kyle Smith 111pts
3. Rico Bogen 102pts
4. Magnus Ditlev 100pts
5. Alistair Brownlee 96pts