NewsLouison and Zamora Perez win in Nice
Zamora claims his second consecutive title, while Louison wins at home
Published Sunday, June 24, 2007
While both of today's champions proved that they are outstanding climbers on the bike, Alexandra Louison and Marcel Zamora Perez each claimed the Ironman France-Nice title thanks to an outstanding run leg.
Spain's Zamora Perez claimed his second consecutive title here in Nice after trailing France's Rene Rovera by five minutes off the bike. He quickly overcame the deficit to take the lead and never looked back as his 2:48 marathon was easily the fastest posted by any of the pros here today.
Rovera would fade badly on the run, leaving the exciting battle for second between France’s Gilles Reboul and Patrick Bringer, along with super age-grouper Bruno Clerbout. Reboul moved to second with five kilometers of running left and it wasn’t until the finishing chute that Bringer was able to finally get clear of Clerbout to take third.
Third time is the charm for Louison “I think it was one of my greatest days,” she said after crossing the finish line. “Like when I won Monaco, my family was here today. It was great to win here in my town with my family, friends and training partners all here.”
That doesn’t mean the day was easy. She trailed Virginia Berasategui for the entire bike ride after losing five minutes out of the water. As good a climber as Berasategui is, the diminutive Louison was even better today, steadily gaining throughout the ride. Despite the fact that she made up time on the Spaniard, she didn’t even come off the bike in second – she was passed over the closing miles of the bike by Germany’s Kathrin Paetzold.
Louison was quicker out of T2, though, and quickly caught Berasategui to take the lead. The German wasn’t done, though.
“In the marathon it was very hard because starting I was third then, in the second lap, Karthrin started to make up some time,” she said. “I pushed the pace in the third and fourth laps to try and discourage her.”
Whether or not Paetzold was discouraged, or simply couldn’t keep up, Louison managed to run her way to her first Ironman title. The German would eventually finish second, while another German, Tine Tretner would get passed Berasategui to grab the last spot on the podium.
“I don’t know if I’ll take the qualification for Hawaii,” she said. “Last year it was nice and I want to go back, but this year might be too early. I want to get more experience before I go to Hawaii, I think.”
While she might not race in Kona this year, Louison’s performance today bodes well for a bright Ironman future.
The same goes for Zamora Perez. He joked earlier this week that he would like to win ten titles here in Nice, just like Mark Allen. That might be a tall order, but two consecutive wins certainly gets the streak started.
You can check out the entire day’s coverage by clicking on the link from the Ironman France-Nice page on the Ironman.com site.
1 LOUISON Alexandra FRA 09:49:11
2 PAETZOLD Kathrin GER 09:53:05
3 TRETNER Tine GER 09:57:25
4 BERASATEGUI Virginia ESP 10:07:24
5 MACDONALD Mari. CAN 10:15:23
6 CISAROVSKA Lad. CZE 10:17:35
7 WELLEKENS Fran. BEL 10:25:54
8 SCHNECK Michae. GER 10:29:46
10 CHORETIER Aline FRA 10:39:15
1 ZAMORA PEREZ Marcel ESP 08:38:45
3 BRINGER Patrick FRA 08:46:09
4 CLERBOUT Bruno BEL 08:46:30
5 MÜLLER Daniel GER 08:56:00
6 ORNELLAS Marcus BRA 08:59:38
7 CLAES Thierry BEL 09:04:17
8 PSCHEBIZIN Marc GER 09:05:23
10 DUCHENE Domini. FRA 09:13:59
