Sparkassen-Finanzgruppe Ironman 70.3 Germany Preview

Italian Alessandro De Gasperi to race Germans while Virginia Berasategui tries to defend her title, reports Kai Baumgartner.

2,700 athletes from 40 nations will race in Sunday's second edition of the Sparkassen-Finanzgruppe Ironman Germany 70.3 on Sunday in the event that includes a 1,9 km swim, a 90 km bike through hilly "Rheingau-Taunus-Kreis" and a 21.1 km run.

The professional field will compete for a prize purse of US$ 25,000 and there are 75 qualifying slots for the Foster Grant Ironman World Championship 70.3 in Clearwater.

Tough and scenic bike and run course

Swimming in “Schiersteiner Hafen“ is the easiest part of the Wiesbaden course, but that could become a bit more challenging as a non-wetsuit swim is still an option. The current water temperature is 24.7° Celsius - 0.7° above a legal wetsuit swim, which means we might see a lot of thin and fast speed suits on Sunday morning – the decision will be made on Saturday morning

The course is one of the toughest in the Ironman 70.3 series with 1,500 meters of climbing, divided into three big climbs with names like “No mercy”, “Nirvana” and “The Hammer.” The last of the climbs includes a long 15 km stretch and will cost a huge amount of energy. While the climbs are not steep, they do manage to break things up out on the bike course.

T2 is in downtown Wiesbaden. The athletes will want to take a deep breath of fresh air and grab some nutrition before they enter the scenic half-marathon at “Kurpark Wiesbaden.” Long, but very slightly up- and downhill sections, will take more energy from the legs than everybody is expecting if they haven’t competed on this partly shady three-loop run course. The race ends right in front of the historic and beautiful “Kurhaus.”

Italian Alessandro De Gasperi faces Germans

While last years champion, France’s Stephen Bignet, will not defend his title, second place finisher Alessandro De Gasperi from Italy arrives as the man to beat. The former short-distance triathlete had a solid solid performance last year with no weakness in any discipline. The 2005 European Winter Triathlon Champion should be well rested, too, as he hasn’t had any major events so far this year.
Faris Al-Sultan will race for the first time Wiesbaden. During this year’s Frankfurter Sparkasse Ironman European Championship in Frankfurt he tried to attack eventually winner Chris McCormack on the bike and failed. He was caught before the marathon and had his very first DNF with a non-mechanical reason during the run ever. Turns out that problems with his gluteus muscle made even the 180 km bike ride a rough one as he was not able to hold the right position on his saddle.

Michael Goehner wasn’t any lucker – he suffered a middle ear infection before the race, finished in tenth place and missed to qualify for Kona. Goehner, changed his focus for the rest of the season and will try to get one of the three Clearwater qualifying slots for pros. A solid biker and strong runner, Goehner still struggles during the swim, a disadvantage, that will cost him a lot of energy to get close to the race leaders.

German Nils Goerke had the second fastest run split last year, which helped him pass guys like Goehner to finish third. Uwe Widmann is aiming for Clearwater too. Widmann, who lives in Wiesbaden has to face athletes like Markus Forster, another strong cyclist and runner. It’s unknown how Enrico Knobloch will fare on Sunday. After a crash in Clearwater last year, he suffered an infection of Lyme-Borreliosis earlier this summer. After taking antibiotics for 14 days and resting during his main build-up for Wiesbaden, he’s just in time to get back on track. Other men to watch include Florian Greckl and Rolf Lautenbacher, while even some strong age groupers could finish in the top 10.
Spain’s Virginia Berasategui aims for second win at Sparkassen-Finanzgruppe IRONMAN Germany 70.3.

Spanish mountain goat Virginia Berasategui would like to repeat last years win in Wiesbaden. After a disappointing fifth place at Canarias Ironman Lanzarote, due some lower-back problems, the Basque lightweight is aiming for a solid bike performance.
Germany’s Wenke Kujala had the fastest bike split last year and is possibly the most likely of Berasategui’s competitors. Third placed at 2008 Ironman European Championship behind Chrissie Wellington and Nicole Leder, Kujala might need some more recovery to perform at the top of the game, though.

It’s also uncertain how Andrea Brede will fare – after losing a sprint to the line at the finish of the Frankfurter Sparkasse Ironman European Championship last year to Nicole Leder, she’s been fighting a long-term injury for much of this year. Is she back in race form?

If any of these three struggle during the day there are a few girls who will be happy to race for the podium on Sunday. Ina Reinders, Al-Sultan’s girlfriend, has tremendous power on the bike – on short distance triathlons. She is also a strong runner, but she also raced in Frankfurt last month and might not be perfectly recovered.

Meike Krebs from Frankfurt is one of several other girls to watch for, along with some strong age groupers who could finish in the top 10 including Nicole Toepfer, Linda Schuecker, Ute Streiter, Iris Tiedeken and Nicole Best.