Llanos, Berasategui win European LD
Eneko Llanos outran Martin Jensen of Denmark and Virginia Berasategui used a blazing bike to overcome Great Britain's Jodie Swallow's better swim and run as the two Basque competitors completed a home region sweep at the European long distance championships in Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain.
Llanos, the 3-time XTERRA World Champion, a former ITU long distance world titlist and 2008 Ironman World Championship second place finisher, raced elbow to elbow with Denmark's Jensen through the 4-kilometer swim (50:07 to 50:02) and 120-kilometer bike (2:49:37 to 2:49:40), then slowly pulled away on the 30-kilometer run (1:54:03 to 1:55:32).
Llanos finished his day in the sunny heat of his Basque hometown of Vitoria-Gasteiz in 5:35:34 with a 1:26 margin of victory. Jensen's Danish countryman Jimmy Johnsen finished another 12:19 back in third place, with Mikel Elgezabal Fernandez of Spain 4th in 5:53:58 and Pedro Gomes aka Klep of Portugal 5th in 5:56:50.
"It was a tough race. The swim and the bike went perfect and I felt very well and strong. I had good legs too on the run, made a good gap in the first lap and then I held it until the end. Martin was running well too so I had to keep pushing the whole run, keeping constant the minute gap I had," said Llanos. "This is a very special victory for me, winning an European Championships title in my hometown is something amazing, the crowd was fantastic. I had big support from everybody and the race was awesome."
Fellow Basque country competitor Virginia Berasategui finished the swim 3:10 back of former ITU long course world titlist Jodie Swallow of Great Britain, but gained it all back and more with a sizzling, race-best 3:10:59 bike that put 10:21 on Swallow's 3:21:20 mark.
Swallow put on an assault on the run with a women's race-best 2:03:25 time for the 30k, which was faster than the third-and fourth-place men's runs. But it only cut 3:10 into Berasategui's 7;01 lead off the bike. At the end, Berasategui underlined her complete recovery from a painful February bike crash with a 6:14:46 finish which gave her a 4:16 margin of victory.
The rest of a decent women's field were well back. Edith Niederfriniger of Italy was third, 26:15 back of the winner, Eva Ledesma of Spain was 4th, 1:33 further back, and Tiina Boman of Finland finished 5th, 32:28 back of the winner.
ETU Long Distance Championship
Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain
June 26, 2010
S 4k/ B 120k/ R 30k
Results
Elite men
1. Eneko Llanos (ESP) 5:35:34
2. Martin Jensen (DEN) 5:37:00
3. Jimmy Johnsen (DEN) 5:49:19
4. Mikel Elgezabal Fernandez (ESP) 5:53:58
5. Pedro Gomes (POR) 5:56:50
6. Richard Calle Martinez (ESP) 5:57:36
7. Jarmo Hast (FIN) 5:59:22
8. Andrej Vistica (CRO) 6:04:11
9. Karl-Johan Danielsson (SWE) 6:07:59
10. Petr Soukup (CZE) 6:09:06
Elite women
1. Virginia Berasategui (ESP) 6:14:46
2. Jodie Swallow (GBR) 6:19:02
3. Edith Niederfriniger (ITA) 6:41:01
4. Eva Ledesma (ESP) 6:42:34
5. Tiina Boman (FIN) 6:47:14
6. Lisbeth Kristensen (DEN) 6:54:00
7. Valentina Filipeto (ITA) 6:56:26
8. Martina Dogana (ITA) 7:01:41
9. Venla Koivula (FIN) 7:08:48
