‘Best performance to date’ by Lewis in season opener
JOSH LEWIS outshone his British rivals and numerous other professional triathletes in a season opener he heralded as his ‘best performance to date’.
His seventh-place finish at last weekend’s Ironman 70.3 Lanzarote might not appear as brilliant as his wins and podiums at a lower level, but Lewis has rarely flourished to this extent against such strong opposition.
The Sarnian came through the brutally hilly and windy race in 4hrs 2min. 47sec., nearly 8min. clear of next Brit Harry Palmer, and further still of other esteemed pros like Thomas Davis. Absent were the errors that had hampered some other races.
‘It was my best performance to date in terms of the field and how I actually went in comparison to the quality of the field,’ he said.
‘It was the first Ironman 70.3 on the European calendar, so it was an absolutely stacked field of basically everyone who’s anyone in Europe.
‘It was quite satisfying being the first Brit, but also by eight minutes.’
Within a professional field over the 1.2-mile swim, 56-mile bike and 13.1-mile run course, he made an impression swiftly by getting on leader and eventual winner Justus Nieschlag’s feet and leaving the water in the top three.
Two men got away on an early cycle climb, dropping a group of six that included Lewis.
The group split further during a long, daredevil descent through potentially hazardous winds in the first half of the bike, and Lewis’ hesitancy cost him time, but he powered on to close the gap.
It took another similar descent for him to slip back definitively, and he ended the bike a lonely seventh after running out of gears to catch up on a flying tailwind-assisted section.
The run proved less eventful. Positions at the front barely changed, with Lewis losing minimal ground to those ahead and holding off a few quicker chasers.
As Olympian Justus Nieschlag of Germany won just less than 8min. ahead, the Sarnian was a happy man crossing the line.
‘It’s enormous for my confidence,’ Lewis said.
‘I thought there was this performance in me and I could mix it with the best, but I could not execute it properly [before this].
‘I think I got everything out of myself and my ability on that day.’
However, having lost valuable training due to a calf issue four weeks beforehand, he still has room to improve in coming races.
Lewis will return to training mode before tackling the Marbella 70.3 on 7 May.
