I won again | Ironman 70.3 Aix-en-Provence

I’m taking you through my race in Aix-en-Provence, France. An Ironman 70.3 pro series race. I was also racing on my brand new Cadex Tri!

Thanks to Maurten, Plasmaide and Red Bull for supporting the YT channel.

Filmed by Roj Ferman

hello everyone and welcome to another vlog 
uh this time around straight out of the   future with the new Oakley gases actually 
uh please let me know what you think about   them but this video will be a summary of 
Ironman Aix-en-Provence 70.3 which was   uh last week so uh as you can see I have the 
pure evidence I won the race again so stoked   with that but now we will go a little bit more 
into the details of uh the race but first I have   to put the finisher banner up where it belong 
or right next to um the finisher banner from   Texas it’s quite large compared to the one from 
Texas almost twice the size but anyway promo Okay so uh um yeah going through the race so 
the main reason why we went to Aix-en-Provence   uh in the first place was uh basically because 
it’s French roads it’s a pretty nice bike   course uh a little bit of climbing a 
little bit of descending which would   uh just give us like a little uh sort of test and 
sort of g get like an idea of uh how we would be   performing in a similar course to what we will 
face in the world championship in Nice this summer   so it’s uh not completely the same but uh yeah 
I guess it is the race that was looking the most   uh similar to the world championship course so it 
was um 1.9K leg swim 19 or 18° I think so wetsuit   swim and uh the nice thing in uh in France and in 
Europe at this time of the year is that the sun is   uh getting up way before the start time so it 
was uh very clear bright in the morning and   uh very easy to see and also very easy to wake up 
because it just comes a bit more naturally when   uh the sun is out and uh once again felt uh pretty 
good and uh ready to go in the morning uh did the   same protocol as I did going into Texas with 
u uh both like double Plasmaide in the morning   before the race about like 90 minutes before 
the start and also uh getting high on caffeine   in the morning threw some Red Bulls down and uh 
yeah felt like quite good to go already on the   warm up and the gun went off and um yeah but once 
again a big field on the swim uh felt a bit like   uh that I didn’t swim too well for the first half 
of the swim and I felt I was almost a bit scared   of ending up in the in the second pack but then 
uh luckily on the way back home again from the   turning point back to the exit for the last 900 
m I felt that the group was coming a bit more   together again and when I was like sighting 
sighting up front and trying to see where the   first guys were as we were burning around the boys 
i felt that uh I wasn’t too far behind uh as yeah   I was a little bit worried I would be even further 
behind but it seems like I had okay control on   uh where I was in the field and um felt like 
uh relatively okay for the last 900 m on the   swim and got out of the water like 12 seconds 
behind the leader in maybe 15th 20th position and   uh yeah ran through transition uh lost a little 
bit of time there as we were a big group coming   out of the swim it was a little bit like chaotic 
uh around the the T1 bag because we both had to   take off the wet suit we had to take out the 
helmet and put on the bib number but also put   it all back in again and hang the plastic bag up 
on the rack and uh uh it was quite a tight narrow   space uh for 15 to 20 guys to get through so it 
was a little bit like you want to do everything   right without really like uh colliding with anyone 
else so lost maybe 20 25 seconds behind the trio   including Jonas Schomburg and Sam Dickinson yeah 
was doing what I had to do in order to bridge up   to them so it took me maybe 10 minutes where I was 
riding just under 400 watts yeah so the group was   settling into a rhythm there before before Ruben 
the guy who won the year before by riding quite   aggressively on the bike course i think he got 
like 4 minutes on the group last year he he was   then after 30k like bridging away and uh or I’m 
not sure if he were bridging away but like it   opened up a gap between him and the second and 
the guy in the second place and I was then in a   third position and I thought that um yeah I’m sort 
of comfortable by letting him get away and um uh   for the next couple of case we sort of saw him in 
it was sort of close enough that we could see him   but then uh I think it was really opening up the 
gap in the first downhill from there on it was uh   at one point I thought it we might have been able 
to separate from the rest of the guys because I I   thought we were like maybe five or six guys that 
of getting away from the group but then on the   flat section after the downhill again the group 
sort of came together again and suddenly we were   maybe 15 or 20 guys uh back together and all I was 
doing was just counting down to both the 50k mark   because there was a little bit a little bit bigger 
downhill so I just wanted to be in a good position   um in that section just because in case the field 
would stretch out so was focusing there on always   uh be like in a good position in that group and 
being near the front and I was pleased with how   I was able to ride the the downhill felt quite 
comfortable on the new on my new KX bike it was   same position as I’ve been riding in the past but 
just a epic new color so the white color wave just   loved it and uh I was also counting down towards 
the 67k point because there we had uh about a 10   minutes uh long climb and uh I was uh sort of 
expecting people to really put the hammer down   in that climb before the final descending down to 
Aix-en-Provence so uh I was opening up the first   few minutes before Simon Van was uh catching 
or like passing me maybe halfway up that hill   or the climb and uh yeah a French guy I’ve been 
racing against a lot in the past we raced on the   same team back in 2013 in Valence so I was quite 
aware of uh his skills of uh riding in both like   uh typically French races with hilly bike horses 
and also his skills of being able to run off the   bike with tired legs as we have both been uh in 
that second or third pack in the short distance   uh races and having to work quite hard and 
then still having to run with tired legs so   um I was aware that he could suddenly be a threat 
for the win and prior to that I thought that Sam   Dixon and Pierre Le Corre would be the strongest 
competitors in that race but then suddenly he   popped up to my mind and u yeah it seems like 
basically the whole group except Pierre was   uh in that front group on the top of that 
final climb and we were all sort of riding   uh sort of together in the last part last 15k and 
it wasn’t a massive separation uh alongside the   the first 10 15 guys we only had 2 minutes up to 
Ruben who I expected uh to be a little bit slower   on the run so uh I thought that 2 minutes was uh 
quite comfortable to let him get away with and   uh yeah went through T2 i felt that Sam was really 
running fast in transition and it was little bit   like coating against as it was quite tight space 
in terms of the where we had the T2 run bags and   had to like take off the helmet and put on the 
shoes and socks and everything but uh managed to   get out of transition and sort of near the front 
and uh straight away just uh thought that I’m   going to try to follow Simon Viain for the first 
lap or so and see how that pace were feeling like   yeah it felt super comfortable like I felt uh well 
within myself and uh yeah I really enjoyed both   the course and also the atmosphere along like the 
the spectators were creating a great atmosphere   and also I was enjoying my own stride like I 
felt like I was running well within myself and   just counting down to that uh final uh five or 6k 
that was like always in my mind But on that final   lap I’m going to make it a big push and um yeah 
for the first couple of cases it was just myself   and Simon and then suddenly Jonas Schomburg came 
up he was like putting in a massive surge in a   downhill so when he came up he was breathing quite 
heavily and um he went then passed me into second   position while I was then sort of at that point 
I was actually fourth on course but like third in   that group and uh then in that next uphill after 
that Jonas got dropped again and uh it was back to   me and Simon and then we run like that for another 
lap like about 7ks before suddenly Casper came   back uh apparently he’s been like sort of chasing 
us down for the last uh 10 or 11ks as he had a   little bit weaker transition than the two of us 
so uh he was like chasing us down and taking a few   seconds here and there and suddenly after um 11 
or 12k halfway through on the run he was back into   the mix at that point we also had passed Reuben 
i think we passed him on the first lap so uh then   we were then I was just counting down towards uh 
the final lap and uh as we as he came up I also   told Casper in the region that uh with about 5 
to 6k to go I’m going to put down the hammer and   uh ramp up the pace so I felt as well as we were 
getting by the end of that second lap that he was   a little bit more aware that uh he needed to be 
on the alert and and was like little bit closer   to me just to be ready for the surge when it 
was coming felt that when I was then putting   the hammer down that the legs was feeling great 
the lungs was feeling good and uh I felt like I   could just push on and push on without uh feeling 
the lactate and uh quite early on maybe a minute   in to my surge I managed to open up the gap to 
both Casper and to Simon and from there on it was   more like about enjoying the rest of the run and 
uh yeah quite stoked to take another uh win and 2   and a half thousand points now uh in the Ironman 
Pro Series which puts me in a great position for   the rest of the year as uh uh I’m now leading 
the Ironman Pro Series which is nice but the most   important thing is that I’m having full scores 
from Texas and full scores from Aix-en-Provence   so the points I’m having from Oceanside will 
hopefully be swapped out with a great performance   in Marbella i was actually feeling really good uh 
both after Texas and Aix-en-Provence and I think   uh uh one thing is like the training is going in 
like I’m feeling I’m absorbing the training and   the races I’m doing i think that also comes down 
to a little bit uh the fact that I’m both using   uh like uh like Plasmaide before the race and 
after the race so typically I take like two such   uh in the morning before the race to uh get like 
the benefits in terms of the lungs and the oxygen   uptake but also I feel uh it’s speeding up my 
recovery and I’m feeling less stiff the day after   when I’m using it so as well as I do it in the 
evening after the race and also when I’m flying   back home I feel that uh I’m easier able to get 
straight into training again when I’m getting back   home and as well as I’m getting older I need to 
fight against the aging and one of the things I’ve   been feeling as I’m making it well into the 30s is 
that I’m getting more and more stiff uh especially   in the shoulders and also like the muscles so been 
prioritizing uh more mobility works and that’s   also why I’ve been partnering up with the go wood 
which is like an app that both gives me exercises   that I’m doing both for daily workouts activation 
for the sessions and recovery so some sessions I’m   doing after the braces or training I’m doing 
or also mid traveling just to stay flexible   and speeding up the recovery and what’s the nice 
thing with it is that it’s not just some random   uh exercises that the app is giving me but it’s 
uh based on like the mobility test that I’m doing   so it sort of knows my weaknesses my strength as 
an example uh I’m testing out how flexible I’m in   my hamstring by doing some exercises how flexible 
I am in the rotation and uh also it knows that my   primary sport is triathlon so it based on the 
testing I’m doing it knows that what sort of   exercises I need to be better at and based on that 
it’s also giving me uh a selection of different   exercises that I’m doing whether it’s 8 minutes 
11 minutes or the 22 minutes uh session so uh yeah   been spending uh more time on really prioritizing 
uh mobility work next now is training towards Iron   Man Frankfurt the Manova European Championship 
which I won last year which I want to win again   this year and that’s going to be an epic race 
uh first time again racing Magnus Ditlev on the   bike which will be tough but uh we will try to get 
ready for it and uh also as you can see it’s it’s   a beautiful weather in Bergen now so we will stay 
in Bergen now and finger cross that the weather   will be likewise for the next uh 4 weeks so doing 
the preparation here at home and having a little   bit of um yeah time to just uh uh enjoy both 
the training and building up again for Frankfurt