Mashup of the last month

Us during a long ride in my region in South of France.

Hi all,
The D-100 for the Olympic Games function organised by the French Olympic Committee seems so long ago and I ended today certainly the best 4 week training cycle I ever did.
The month was pretty tough and I am fortunate to share my training between Sète and Montpellier with James Elvery. After training together in NZ, we are now helping each other for the big season ahead of us (him in Long distance now and me with the Olympics). And of course Andrea is with us for every session.
About my preparation, the crew of Nicolas Geay  ( for national TV 2)  followed me one day for a report from the "inside".
It was a standard Saturday of April / May including a session 6.3 k swim with the "pole France", a specific bike session paced behind the scooter and 19km of run including a 5x1500 race pace efforts with 1min rest.
This is a massive opportunity to promote our sport in France as it was for the most famous and followed sport show.
We are still lagging behind other countries but it will only get better!
Here is the link for the video ( in french only).

As you know if you follow me, in 2012 I am ride Milani bicycles (Andrea since 2009).
Milani is an authentic and genuine product actually 'Made in Italy'. Milani preserves  a perfect balance between tradition and innovation to develop his philosophy to realize high quality frames for racing bicycles.
I just received the N109 with the new 2012 Sram Red and Quarq power meter and Zipp Firecrest wheels (the model of Zipps varies between 101, 303, 404 or 808 depending on the race course).
(More photos available on my facebook page). 
The bike has been amazing to ride in my first outings and I am excited to attack the tough course in Madrid next week with this weapon and on to London.

Finally, bad weather was expected over most of France for the next few days so I prepared a "minimix" and I am sharing it with you.

Next race coming up: Madrid  World Serie in 6 days.

Cheers.
Laurent

Bronze in Sydney World Triathlon Series #1 ... plus bonus.

Believe it or not but I am posting this news from my flight between Dubai and Paris! It's crazy what technology allows us to do theses days.
To be honest, I haven't purchased 100MB of credit only to update my website. I submited a change in my whereabouts in the ADAMS system .
After a great summer in New Zealand I will be in France this afternoon but not home yet as I will stay 36hours in Paris for the ceremony of the day minus 100 until the London Olympics Games. This event is organized all over the world by national Olympic committees. It's an honor to be part of it and it's also a good way to promote our sport to everyone.

Anyway, that's not the purpose of my post.
Last week, I raced the opening round of the World Triathlon Series in Sydney and I took the Bronze medal, 9 seconds behind the winner Steffen Justus and 2sec behind Richard Murray second.
The Sydney course still feels unreal! What a stunning place. A dive start in front of the opera house in clear blue water followed by the first transition in between the opera house and the Harbour Bridge and to finish a bike and run leg in between Macquarie Street and the botanic gardens. What an experience!

At 10:36 (live TV ) I started ( I had a pretty average start tho) on the right side of the pontoon. 1500m later, I managed to exit the ocean 13second behind the leader.
From that point, I was in the lead group.
Early on, James Elvery ( sweet bro) from New Zealand and Ivan Vassiliev from Russia broke away from the peloton and did an impressive 40km bike together to start the run with more than a minute ahead of us, the chasers.
My focus on the bike was to stay out of trouble as the course was designed very tight and I noticed that there was a lot of nervosity in the bunch: Sydney was an Olympic Qualifying race for the NZers, Australians and Canadians.
In transition 2, the challenge was to catch the leaders as soon as possible.
The pace was ON straight away and after the first of four laps we ( Murray, Justus and I) were only 30 sec behind Vassiliev.
Sydney was different to Mooloolaba ( the world cup I won three weeks ago), the run course was flat, more speed was required and when Steffen Justus surged with 3k to go I gave "all in" to try to catch him.
There were nothing I could do, he was stronger (harder, better, faster too ?!) and I realized that I was burning a bit myself. Richard Murray passed me again and drop me with 800m to go.
I couldn't respond and crossed the line third!

It was a good day and the way it all happened is confirming my form and the way my training will go over the next 6 weeks up until Madrid WTS.

I am really pleased to achieve my base training on a solid result. Over the last four months, I raced four times and I felt my performances increasing the right way. Ok this time I didn't win but I guess I am where I am supposed to be.
Full credit to Steffen and Richard for their performances, they earned it in a gutsy way.

I also have a little story from this week end, it's not a big deal ( ok, yes it is a big deal ;-) ) : In this early season, I am taking the first spot on the world ranking (ITU point list) for the first time of my career. Andrea insured her leadership on the women's ranking ( by finishing also 3rd in Sydney) ! Even if it is going to change in the next weeks, you can't blame me for being pleased with that !

For more infos, video, full results and et press release .:.click here.:.
Photos are courtesy of Delly Carr  and Clare Clarke.
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Before leaving you I would like to share with the scientists of my readers my powerdata ( rollercoaster photo below) from Sydney with the race course and a few numbers:
-AVG Power: 4,43Watts/kg ( w/ 48 peaks over 10Watts/kg).
-Best 5min: 5,9 Watts/kg
-Best 1min: 7,6Watts/kg

Sprint to first ITU World Cup win in Australia!

Last week end, I claimed my first ITU World Cup win with an electrifying sprint in Mooloolaba, just pipping reigning champion Brad Kahlefeldt and another Frenchman, David Hauss, on the line in the first major event of the 2012 season.

Since my last race in Geelong mid february, I shared my training between Christchurch and an altitude camp in the southern Alps of New Zealand.

After a first 8 weeks training block achieved, my friend and team mate David Hauss joined me to hammer some precious miles together looking towards London.
We had a great six weeks together alongside the high performance squad of Tri NZ and the legend Simon Whitfield.
Plenty of work done in a great atmosphere and outstanding landscape as usual in NZ!

Wednesday I left the frost of the snowfarm for the heat of the sunshine coast of Australia for the opening of the World Cup season in Mooloolaba.
The 20 year old race is part of triathlon history in Australia and has one the toughest course you can find on the circuit with a surf swim and a very hilly/ windy bike and run leg.

I have raced a few times there and in the past I have always burnt out on that course so I arrived in Queensland knowing what I was going in for.

I started the race ranked number two and after a good beach start I exited the ocean in the top 10.
On the ride I managed to stay on the front of the lead group without doing too much unnecessary work as I knew the last 10k would be super tough.
I started the run in 7th and found my rhythm straight. It was important for me to stay focussed on my own feelings and I was pleased to be leading the race with a group of 5 including the defending champion Brad Kahlefeldt, the silver medalist from last year Brendan Sexton, spanish Mario Mola and my team mate David Hauss.

After a couple of surges on the hills, David made his move with 1k to go, Brendan Sexton fell off the pace and from then I knew it was gonna end up on a 4 way sprint finish.

With 400m to go I decided to go and hold on until the finish and this is what happened.

I am pretty delighted winning the 1st World Cup of the year. It was always gonna be super tough as all athletes are looking for Olympics Points and a fast hit out after hard months of training.
Plus, Mooloolaba is surely one of the most prestigious races to win, I am now in the palmares with big names of our sport like Bevan Docherty, Miles Stewart, Chris McCormack, Courtney Atkinson, Javier Gomez, Brad Kahlefeldt...

With that win I am moving up to the second spot in the world ranking just in between Javier Gomez and Alistair Brownlee.
I know we are early in the season and a lot of work is still ahead of me but I won't complain with that win!
As I always say, it's important to enjoy good results especially when Andrea had also a stellar day finishing 3rd in the women's race reinforcing her leadership in the world ranking.

After two days easy with rock hard calves I am now back in Christchurch where I will finish my base training with my mates James Elvery, Tom Davison and Dylan McNeice.
Mooloolaba doesn't change anything to my plan, I know where I am and where I want to get. Work ahead.
.:.Watch video, press release and full results.:.

See you soon.
Laurent


Photos are courtesy of Delly Carr and Wayne Nevrilk. Feel free to contact them if you would like some images in high resolution.

Shots of Wanaka's training camp.

Since my  victory in Geelong (AUS) , I am back into training with  Andrea in the south island of New Zealand.
David Hauss and Mélanie Annaheim have joinded us for a six weeks training block leading towards  Mooloolaba World cup season opener at the end of march.

After several requests, I share with you few shots of our life as triathletes in the South Island of NZ:

Lake Tekapo on the road to Wanaka with Mélanie, Andréa, Aurélien et David.

Our lodge on top of the mountains.

The crown range pass.

Snack time half way through the long ride.

Our running trails by Lake Wanaka.

Sprint finish with David at the end of a run session, Simon Whitfield et Kris Gemmell are the referees.

Andrea is out training no matter what.

Helpful when the legs get tights!

Have a good day or night.
Laurent,
Chasing performances
Photos Mélanie Annaheim  (& me).