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Wadsworth pipped by cycling legend Armstrong

  • By Paul Moore
  • Published November 2, 2011

Graham Wadsworth was delighted after finishing one place behind cycling icon Lance Armstrong at the Xterra World Triathlon Championships in Hawaii. Graham finished in 24th place overall at the event in Maui, clocking two hours, 38 seconds.

But he was pipped by Armstrong, who has reverted to Xterra triathlons since retiring from mainstream cycling.

The seven-time Tour de France winner, one of the most successful road racing cyclists of all time, was fifth out of the water on Sunday and held his own during the cycling before struggling during the run, eventually finishing in 23rd, with Wadsworth one minute behind.

Wadsworth, a USN ambassador, said: “Lance Armstrong finished just ahead of me but, to be honest, I had my eyes closed at the end so couldn’t see much at all. He was about a minute ahead at the end. He went to pieces on the run and fell back in the standings quite a lot. He was fifth out of the water and showed what a top triathlete he is.

“In the run, I was catching up on him all the time. I never thought I’d get that close to him – I put him down to finish in the top five or top 10.

“I’m really pleased, the field was very strong. At the start of the race, I looked around at the people lining up and there were a lot of big names. But there was not a single guy ahead of me at the finish who I should have beaten on paper, so it was very satisfactory. It was a top field full of quality.

“I can definitely improve. My swim was appalling, and I came out of the water in 137th place. So I overtook more than 100 people, which is not easy off-road on a mountain bike. It was just a rubbish swim that mucked me up, meaning I had more people to overtake. So I need to work on my swim.”

The Hawaii event featured a 1,500-metre swim, 18.3-mile mountain bike ride that climbed more than 4,000 feet up and down the lower slopes of the West Maui Mountains, and a 6.1-mile trail run. There were 670 starters.

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Paul Moore

Paul Moore

Paul Moore is the Online Editor for Triathlete Europe. When not glued to a computer he can be found writing books - most recently Ultimate Triathlon: A complete training guide for long-distance triathletes which you can buy on Amazon