My first race of the season was the World Triathlon Series Race in Abu Dhabi. This also was my first time I entered at WTS level, the highest level in triathlon.
After having had a good winter with some solid training and no injuries, I was coming in good shape and was feeling well. I was very excited to race!
I traveled with the Belgium delegation, some staff and mainly other athletes. A bunch of nice people!
On race day, it was raining?! Can you imagine, in Abu Dhabi..? But no problem for me. Coming from Belgium, I’m used to the rain and wet conditions. I can handle my bike with no problem in the rain, at least I thought so.. During the race, after a mediocre swim, a thing you cannot permit on this level of racing, I came out of the water at the back of the large bunch. Fortunately I was able to hang on. A good transition still kept me in touch with the others in the large pack. Immediately after the transition area, there were some sharp turns. Already 2 athletes went down in those very first corners. Dodging these crashes meant making a couple of dead stops. As you would expect I saw the rest of the pack pulling away..
The bike course as a whole was incredibly slippy. The formula 1 track felt like an ice track. With no sights on a good result, I just tried to make it to the run without crashing..
Ending 44th isn’t something I can be happy about, but taken into consideration the dangerous conditions it’s no too bad. I didn’t want to risk my entire season with a stupid crash here. A missed opportunity, but a motivation for the upcoming races! I still need to show my worth.
