AX3 TEAM STRONG TO THE WTS YOKOHAMA
The third round of the World Triathlon Series lands again in Yokohama (Japan), a test that has been on the calendar of the World Series uninterrupted since 2011.
The AX3TEAM arrives strong to Yokohama, with a team compose by Fernando Alarza at the head, accompanied by Antonio Serrat, and in females by Camila Alonso. For Fernando Alarza, it will be the 6th time that he compete in the Japanese country, where he has not failed in any of the editions of the WTS Yokohama since 2014. For Fernando, Yokohama had always been a great race, because in recent years He had always been in the Top10, being 2nd in 2017.
The Olympic cycle starts this weekend
Yokohama will be a special event for all triathletes, since it will be the first scoring event for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. There Will be two very intense years ahead at competitive level for all the triathletes that want to be in the next Olympic Games.
In this Olympic cycle, Spain will continue to be one of the world powers, with Mario Mola and Fernando Alarza at the head, Vicente Hernández, Antonio Serrat and Uxio Abuín, as well as Javier Gómez Noya, who may be in Tokyo 2020.
Olympic distance and swimming with wetsuit
The race will be held over Olympic distance, as it was in Bermuda, 1500m of swimming, 40km of bike and 10km of running.
The cold temperatures of these last days will cause that the swimming to be played with a wetsuit, «swimming with wetsuits will Benefit us, because swimming is more equal among swimmers», Alarza commented.
Our team will try to get out of swimming in the first group, but they are aware that if they don´t do a good swim they will have to work hard on bike so that the race doesn´t escape.
«The Yokohama circuit is quite technical on a bike, so it will be important to be well placed and control possible attempts to escape» as happened in the last WTS in Bermuda, where three Norwegians got the podium after escaping in the cycling segment.
The race on foot, the strong point of Alarza
The last 10km of the race on foot will be the ones that decide the race, a segment in which Alarza feels very comfortable. «The race sensations in Bermuda were very positive,» Alarza declared.
Humidity will also play an important role in Yokohama, where it is always high, «I will have to control the race in the first km to reach the end with strength, where from km7 it will be the decisive moment «
Mola, Murray and Blummenfelt, the rivals to keep in mind
Alarza arrives in Yokohama as 6th in the world ranking, but with great chances of leaving Japan among the top three if he will get a good result. For Antonio, the first World Series of the season, with ambitious goals to make good paper and score to position very well in the ranking. Antonio comes to take the podium in 3 European cups in a row, where he has shown us his good form
Mario Mola arrives in Yokohama with world leader and main favorite to win. Also, it will be necessary to follow Richard Murray or Kristian Blummenfelt who will can do great race.
In addition, the great runners have great options of podium, like the Australian Jacob Birtwhistle, or the French Vincent Luis, Dorian Coninx or Pierre Le Corre.
The women’s race, on Saturday at 3: 00h in Teledeporte
The men’s race, on Saturday at 6: 00h in Teledeporte
The test will take place early Friday to Saturday in Spain and can be follow live on Teledeporte.
