With a reputation as one of the prettiest long-distance courses on the European circuit, Ironman Nice attracted a stacked pro field last weekend. Belgian athletes Bart Aernouts and Tine Decker took gold in the men's and women's races, though the latter only just held off Caitlin Snow (USA) in a tense climax to the run.
In the men's race, Britain's Harry Wiltshire was first out of the water in 49:37mins – though disaster would strike later for Harry with a calamitous crash on the bike that ruled him out of the race. Aernouts also crashed on the bike – twice – but managed to pick himself up and carry on, reaching T2 a minute behind leader Bertrand Billard (FRA).
Aernouts swiftly overhauled the French athlete while Spain's Victor Del Corral started to move through the rest of the pack further back. Aernouts proved unreachable however and crossed the line in 8:33:22, followed by Del Corral in 8:37:23, with Bermuda's Tyler Butterfield taking bronze in 8:40:56.
In the women's race, Britain's Leanda Cave led out of the water but was quickly pulled over by race officials once on the bike for leaving T1 without a race number. Cave returned to fetch it and went on to finish the bike and part of the run before opting to call it a day.
Meanwhile, the USA's Caitlin Snow had assumed the lead early on in the bike, but was overtaken by Deckers who went on post a rapid 2:59hrs marathon and take gold in 9:12:21. She only just held off Snow though, who ran even harder to finish less than a minute behind Deckers. Bronze was taken by Lisa Roberts (USA) in 9:23:58.
Full results can be found here.
(All images: 2014 Getty Images)